Why are we still in Afghanistan?

[JBjunior]

I feel ya. I felt the same way when I was over there. You want to make a difference, and you feel great about what you do, but then you realize that it will just get blown to shit as soon as you turn around. An insurgency is a tough nut to crack, because the people who are your friends in all likelihood want to be your friends but they also want to keep their heads and their family's heads as well.

You have to change the culture to change what happens over there. Unfortunately that isn't going to happen, especially when we pop off and murder a few families. We know that's an extreme abnormality but unfortunately they (like many here in this country) believe otherwise, either because they want to believe it or because they are brainwashed into it. I had terps tell me they liked the US and knew the people wanted to do a lot of good, but others clearly had at least some level of hostility but wanted the money.

It's just a god-awful situation all the way around. At this point we are there because we broke the eggs and now have to make something out of it. If we don't stay and make something good out of it we will have another Vietnam. Unfortunately, the longer we remain the more likely it is to become that. I told my wife and dad when I returned a few years ago that it was Vietnam all over again, and sadly it looks more and more that way each day.

My thought is that war is a terrible thing. People die, populations are destroyed, people are beat in to submission. Starting in Vietnam we have not been willing to fight a ground war that is willing to accomplish the goals of what war is. You can not fight and win a politically correct war. You can't have it both ways. You can't beat a population in to submission and make the world think we are doing it ethically. It isn't possible.

Iraq is a perfect example. We destroyed the Iraqi Forces almost immediately. As was mentioned with an insurgency, almost everyone has made war their personal battle because we are viewed as outsiders. Everyday a new person takes up arms and we are breeding the enemy simply by being there. We can't go in and ravage the "enemy" because they are imbedded everywhere and that would be viewed by the world to be unethical, therefore we can't win. As was mentioned, it would have to be a cultural change and no one is going to listen or change the culture in a population where the "enemy," in this case us, is attempting to forcibly change it. The brain and cultural change does not work that way.

My end note is: If you are going to fight a war, then fight a war and all that entails. Get in, accomplish your mission, and get out. You can't play peacekeeper and war fighter at the same time. If we aren't willing to do that, which obviously we aren't, it is time to get out and stop losing young men and women while playing at war.