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i could be wrong, but i think i'm the only poster or at
Posted on: August 8, 2021 at 18:48:30 CT
blake1771 MU
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least regular poster who's been to Afghanistan.
You're correct, we shouldn't have been there let alone for 20 years.
Afghanistan is a weird place and the people are nice but at least where I was; which was like the ass-crack of Afghanistan in the mountains near Pakistan, they didn't really care who was in charge. I think they privately preferred democracy but if the Taliban was in charge that didn't seem to bother them much either. they pretty much just wanted to be left alone.
I was there in 2015 and probably 95% of the insurgents we encountered/captured were NOT from Afghanistan. It was a proxy war. Most were Arabs, Chechnyan, Pakistanis, etc.
I had a meeting with an ex-Taliban commander and he told me he quit fighting when one day he looked around and said that there were no afghans under his command. then he switched sides and fought for the coalition. I think this was a pretty common sentiment from the afghans I talked to.
but as much as I think we could have helped them if they aren't willing to step up and fight (some are obviously) then there isn't much we can do really.
BTW the rules of engagement under Obama really hurt our relationships with the Afghan army and police. we couldn't get involved unless coalition troops were being threatened. so if we had aerial surveillance of an imminent attack on afghan only target we would warn them and provide intel but we couldn't send assets to actually help them.
I was fortunate enough to work with a SEAL team and an A-Team and they had different rules of engagement at that time but the regular American troops did not. Although I also worked with some Polish troops and they had the green light to get involved when necessary.
it was very convoluted and the afghans were rightly ****ed about it. but we were not there to "win" anything. that's for sure.
btw, on a different note; the Chinese are there in force building roads and mining for precious metals. They are playing the long game and we play the short game (even though we played it for 20 years)
Edited by blake1771 at 19:20:39 on 08/08/21
You're correct, we shouldn't have been there let alone for 20 years.
Afghanistan is a weird place and the people are nice but at least where I was; which was like the ass-crack of Afghanistan in the mountains near Pakistan, they didn't really care who was in charge. I think they privately preferred democracy but if the Taliban was in charge that didn't seem to bother them much either. they pretty much just wanted to be left alone.
I was there in 2015 and probably 95% of the insurgents we encountered/captured were NOT from Afghanistan. It was a proxy war. Most were Arabs, Chechnyan, Pakistanis, etc.
I had a meeting with an ex-Taliban commander and he told me he quit fighting when one day he looked around and said that there were no afghans under his command. then he switched sides and fought for the coalition. I think this was a pretty common sentiment from the afghans I talked to.
but as much as I think we could have helped them if they aren't willing to step up and fight (some are obviously) then there isn't much we can do really.
BTW the rules of engagement under Obama really hurt our relationships with the Afghan army and police. we couldn't get involved unless coalition troops were being threatened. so if we had aerial surveillance of an imminent attack on afghan only target we would warn them and provide intel but we couldn't send assets to actually help them.
I was fortunate enough to work with a SEAL team and an A-Team and they had different rules of engagement at that time but the regular American troops did not. Although I also worked with some Polish troops and they had the green light to get involved when necessary.
it was very convoluted and the afghans were rightly ****ed about it. but we were not there to "win" anything. that's for sure.
btw, on a different note; the Chinese are there in force building roads and mining for precious metals. They are playing the long game and we play the short game (even though we played it for 20 years)
Edited by blake1771 at 19:20:39 on 08/08/21
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i could be wrong, but i think i'm the only poster or at - blake1771 MU - 8/8 18:48:30
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