Victory impossible in Afghanistan: senior British commander

[Newsjock]

Source: CBC News

Western forces in Afghanistan will never be able to win the war against insurgents and may need to include the Taliban in any long-term solution, Britain's senior commander in the country says in a report.

An absolute military victory in Afghanistan is impossible, Brig.-Gen. Mark Carleton-Smith told England's Sunday Times newspaper.

What foreign forces must now come to grips with, he said, is reducing the level of insurgency so that it can be managed by Afghan forces and no longer poses a major threat.

"We may well leave with there still being a low but steady ebb of rural insurgency … I don’t think we should expect that when we go there won’t be roaming bands of armed men in this part of the world," Carleton-Smith was quoted as saying.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/10/04/afghan-war.html

[Webster Green]

1. Everyone has known that since the 80s..

Well, maybe not quite everyone.

Fucking idiots! :rofl:

[awoke_in_2003]

4. way before the 80's

even Alexander the Great reached that conclusion

[pretzel4gore]

2. while under USSR umbrella, Afghanistan was a hippie haven

Why nobody remembers the blunt facts is mind boggling- in the 70's, Afghanistan was so free the expat community numbered about 20 thousand! John McDonald wrote a book set in Afghanistan, where his hero detective visited undercover to find a missing heiress, or something. But suddenly the CIA began funding muslim terrs, who nearly overthrew the government- Russia invaded in '79 to prop the commie government up (fearing muslim extremist in soviet republics like Turkestan etc). And god knows how many innocent people have died since then. But simple truth just don't fit the required media image, so out it goes! Hushtory starts WITH the Russian invasion...nudge wink ;)

[Bobbieo]

3. Wasn't it Bush Sr. who trained Osama bin Laden and brought

him to Afghanistan?

[Chulanowa]

5. The Afghans have a long and celebrated history of kicking the shit out of everyone

They are, you might say, the shit-kickingest people in the world. They've been doing it longer, they've been doing it harder, and only the Tongans have more fun than the Afghans do with shitkickery.

Anyone who's surprised is bad at history, which is why I'm certain Conservatives are shocked.

[dipsydoodle]

6. More here on BBC News link

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7653116.stm

[onager]

7. As another Brit once noted...

When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Just roll to your rifle and blow out your brains,
And go to your Gawd like a soldier...

Rudyard Kipling, "The Young British Soldier"

[RedSock]

8. of course, "winning" isn't really the goal, is it? eom