Wasted Blood and Treasure: The Futility of Invading Afghanistan

[madokie]

Every single war in Afghanistan, whether waged by the Soviets, the British or the Americans, has wreaked havoc on the country .

On 16 December 2013 David Cameron, the British Prime Minister, told British soldiers in Helmand in Afghanistan that they had accomplished their mission, and that they could come home in 2014 with their heads held high.

He begged an important question: What was that mission? Was it the same as the mission with which the Americans and their allies had entered Afghanistan in October 2001? Or the mission with which the British had gone into Helmand in 2006? Or was it a face-saving reformulation, designed to demonstrate that the blood and treasure expended in Afghanistan over thirteen years had not been spent in vain?

It is a mistake to draw historical parallels too closely, or to seek unambiguous lessons. But looking at the past can clarify the present, even if it offers no secure guide for the future.

The British invasions of Afghanistan in the nineteenth century, the Soviet invasion in 1979, and the American led invasion of 2001, all have one thing in common. By a narrow definition, all the armies won their wars, though the British suffered some humiliating defeats on the battlefield. But neither the British, nor the Russians, nor the Americans achieved, at least through military means, the objectives they had set themselves. All scaled their ambitions down to aims that they could probably have achieved earlier and at less cost. All seriously damaged their own prestige. And all wreaked havoc on the country they claimed to have come to help

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http://www.alternet.org/world/wasted-blood-and-treasure-afghanistan

[Lasher]

1. If you don't have an objective you probably won't achieve it.

We invaded Afghanistan to get bin Laden. We finally found him in Pakistan and killed him there on May 2, 2011. What a perfect time to declare victory and get the hell out. But no, we are still in Afghanistan to this day under false pretenses. We didn't go there to help anybody.

We keep changing the mission as we go along to justify staying in expensive wars where generals get promoted and privates die.

[madokie]

2. Our war was just a scam

Pretty telling how powerful the MIC is by us still being there. I do believe that as a person the President would have us out of there in a heartbeat but I don't think that decision is his alone to make.
If you remember the Vietnam War was a ruse too.

[Lasher]

3. Yes, I recognized your avatar.

I got drafted in 1969. But then I got lucky and was sent to Seoul for 13 months. I did my 2 years and got out. The Vietnam War was on my mind when I posted that reply, as I knew it would be on yours would be when you read it.

The lifers loved that war. Plenty of new recruits meant allocations for promotions. What a waste of lives and innocence.

[HereSince1628]

12. Curious, what do you see as the goal(s) behind the ruse(s) behind Afghanistan?

I completely agree with you that Afghanistan has created political, military and strategic diplomatic entanglements that make it difficult to extract the nation from Afghanistan.

As I understand it, a ruse to be a trick meant to deceive. So, a ruse enables something other than what is obvious in the foreground to go on undetected in the background or in plain sight but not understood as to its real significance.

So, I'm just wondering, what do you think went or was attempted in Afghanistan that went unnoticed or misunderstood by most Americans?

I am also wondering if you see the MIC and politically active cliques, such as the NeoCons, as essentially nested sets of the same thing? Virtually everything the NeoCons did throughout the Cheney administration was hidden in plain sight.

[malaise]

4. There was no mission

Bushco just wanted to show the world they could bomb the fugg out of anyone they chose and they chose Afghanistan.

[Art_from_Ark]

5. Afghanistan has lots of minerals

Lots of them. It has become the first country whose surface minerals have been mapped from the air.

According to the BBC:
"Afghanistan is known to have vast reserves of oil, gas, copper, cobalt, gold and lithium. In late 2011, a consortium of Indian companies inked a deal to begin mining some of the country's large stores of iron.

"But the country is known to have a wider array of mineral resources; in 2010, the Afghan ministry of mines claimed a value of its reserves of nearly a trillion dollars, then carrying out tours to promote investment in them."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18882996

[madokie]

7. Did they even know that before the invasion I wonder

Probably had some idea and that probably had some affect on the why Being the capitalist bastids they are and all

[malaise]

8. Good point

It's also always good to follow the money

[madokie]

6. No doubt about that

cowboy diplomacy, with no disrespect intended to the actual cowboys in our world.

[malaise]

10. Yes but Art_from_Ark's point is valid

Always look for an economic motive as well.

[madokie]

11. Yup, as is said, follow the money

[Adrahil]

9. Afghanistan is hopelessly factionalized and tribal.

We can't save it. No one can. We broke Al-Qaeda there. Time to GTFO. We wasted so much money and blood already.