The 3 Viable Options In Afghanistan

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Abstract

l problem: Dozens or hundreds of American soldiers would surely die in the process. Bush didn’t want to risk the bad public relations — and decided to lay siege to Bin Laden instead.Bad move. Bin Laden escaped. Had Bush sent in the troops and sacrificed those soldiers, it all would have been over right then. The US could have picked up and gone home.To be fair, Bush had no way of knowing at the time that when it was all over, the US would spend a trillion dollars — lose 2000 soldiers (not to mention all the wounded) — and come out of it with nothing. He rolled the dice — and couldn’t have been a bigger loser.Viable option #1 would have been to go into Afghanistan and sacrifice lives the way Ulysses Grant did in the Civil War to win. Bush didn’t do that. Fumble #1 right there.Viable option #2 was to blow Afghanistan back to the Stone Age and then re-inhabit the country after all the radioactivity dissipated. Granted, not a very good option. But it would have worked. The war would have been won quickly — albeit at the cost of millions of lives — just not American lives.The third option was to go in there and stay forever. The US knew from its experience in Vietnam that was really the only way this initiat

Options

ive was going to work. That assumes they took their history lesson into account. But they did not.So they took #4 — not an option that would work. Go in for a while, try to train the forces loyal to the US (don’t make me laugh) until they could defend themselves, and then go home. How’d that work out? Not so well, obviously.And now — as in 40 plus years ago, we see hapless and terrified citizens hanging off airplane wings or helicopter skids desperate to get out of the country to save their lives.The moral of the story is that no country should be meddling in another country’s business — just as no neighbor should be meddling in the affairs of the family next door.The move was to get into Afghanistan, kill Bin Laden — and get the fuck out. Bush didn’t do that. And by the time Bin Laden was finally apprehended, the US was so far in that they decided to change an entire culture was in its best interest.It’s like this: If I’m a Catholic and my next-door neighbor is Buddhist, I’m not going to tell him how to worship and live his life unless he solicits my advice. But I have some common sense. I’m not sure that the US as a country does. And right now, too many people are paying the price.</article></body>

And the USA took none of them

From the looks of current events in Afghanistan, it’s clear that US politicians don’t study history — as they seemingly never learn from past mistakes. The debacle in Afghanistan is proof positive. The current disaster just might stand as one of America’s worst foreign policy failures.

The initial invasion made some sense. Bin Laden was hiding in the country. And the US knew he was the culprit for 9/11. Via superior technology and armed forces, the US soon had Osama cornered at a God-forsaken place called Tora Bora.

First, the US dropped blockbuster bombs to kill him. It didn’t work. And then came the operative moment: It was time to storm the cave and kill the devil.

One small problem: Dozens or hundreds of American soldiers would surely die in the process. Bush didn’t want to risk the bad public relations — and decided to lay siege to Bin Laden instead.

Bad move. Bin Laden escaped. Had Bush sent in the troops and sacrificed those soldiers, it all would have been over right then. The US could have picked up and gone home.

To be fair, Bush had no way of knowing at the time that when it was all over, the US would spend a trillion dollars — lose 2000 soldiers (not to mention all the wounded) — and come out of it with nothing. He rolled the dice — and couldn’t have been a bigger loser.

Viable option #1 would have been to go into Afghanistan and sacrifice lives the way Ulysses Grant did in the Civil War to win. Bush didn’t do that. Fumble #1 right there.

Viable option #2 was to blow Afghanistan back to the Stone Age and then re-inhabit the country after all the radioactivity dissipated. Granted, not a very good option. But it would have worked. The war would have been won quickly — albeit at the cost of millions of lives — just not American lives.

The third option was to go in there and stay forever. The US knew from its experience in Vietnam that was really the only way this initiative was going to work. That assumes they took their history lesson into account. But they did not.

So they took #4 — not an option that would work. Go in for a while, try to train the forces loyal to the US (don’t make me laugh) until they could defend themselves, and then go home. How’d that work out? Not so well, obviously.

And now — as in 40 plus years ago, we see hapless and terrified citizens hanging off airplane wings or helicopter skids desperate to get out of the country to save their lives.

The moral of the story is that no country should be meddling in another country’s business — just as no neighbor should be meddling in the affairs of the family next door.

The move was to get into Afghanistan, kill Bin Laden — and get the fuck out. Bush didn’t do that. And by the time Bin Laden was finally apprehended, the US was so far in that they decided to change an entire culture was in its best interest.

It’s like this: If I’m a Catholic and my next-door neighbor is Buddhist, I’m not going to tell him how to worship and live his life unless he solicits my advice. But I have some common sense. I’m not sure that the US as a country does. And right now, too many people are paying the price.