Quote:
Originally Posted by ZenGum
I find it very worrying that it is our side in the war that just got scammed. It appears we don't even know what our enemies leadership looks like, and are hopelessly lost among the politics of Afghanistan.
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Welcome to VietNam. Exact same scenario. Back in America, we had no idea who was winning or losing in 1968 even though reality had been known in 1965.
Did we lose that war in 2003 when George Jr all but surrendered to the Taliban? How many years had the Taliban retaken Afghanistan before you knew it?
The purpose of war is always - there is no exception - to take the conflict back the negotiation table. Apparently in trying to do just that, a scam artist prospered. But it does not change the only way to win a war - we must always talk to our enemies. No way around that reality. The only problem in Afghanistan is trying to get them to talk. And to know we are talking to our enemy.
But again, we will only learn how well we are doing in ... well in Vietnam, we were losing in early 1960s. For many who are experts on this stuff, that reality did not become obvious until 1968 - the Tet offensive. For many Americans, the defeat was not apparent until 1972 or 1975 when the Pentagon Papers or the fall of Saigon made it impossible to deny reality.
We do not yet know if we lost the Afghan war back in mid 2000s. Hard facts are hard to separate from the chaff. So much chaff because many are preaching a political agenda rather than grasping the number one purpose of war. To take that conflict back the negotiation table.