Why i think hearts and mind is bullshit

>>138944075
>Polish intellectual

>>138944075
The truth is usually simple, but hard for the liars to say: If the war in Afghanistan was really a war, we could win it. We could destroy the agricultural "infrastructure" easily and let the country starve.

Obviously, that isn't the goal. Growing poppy fields is the goal.

>>138944550
We were ordered not to fuck with the drug crops. When someone did they got attacked by drug runners, not Taliban.

>>138944075
I fought for awhile in Afghanistan under an CJTF. We slaughtered shit loads of people.

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>>138944962
sorry. I was larping in a slide thread (while saging)

>>138944962
is it because thats the only thing they are allowed to grow there because of some sanction?

We don't need to win. We need to say, "look you guys fucked up and let the Taliban conduct strikes against us from here. The penalty is you give up 2 bases with a couple thousand marines at each. Anything comes within 5 miles it gets wasted. You manage your own affairs, but if you start fucking it up again the marines are going to roll out and destroy EVERYTHING in their path." Then you keep your word. Boom, peace in Afghanistan.

>>138945912
or you know the us can just win and civilized that fuckin backward country and install a free democratic government preferably a us puppet

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>>138944463
Not sure if op is baiting or retarded.

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>>138944075
NO BRO AFGHANISTAN'S GONNA BE A DEMOCRACY JUST GIVE IT ANOTHER 16 YEARS

>>138944075
The point of Hearts and Minds was, at the end of the war, to have an American ally installed as Afghanistan's government. You can't do that if everyone's dead, or if they're pissed you slaughtered their civilians.

>>138944075
"America" can't win and will do nothing to change this state of affairs. There are lots of poppy fields much wanted by big pharma and other characters. Having an ongoing military action maintains a large flow of capital into the military machine and further more justifies it. Further more having an ongoing active military operation on that side of the world excuses normally unacceptable levels of foreign and domestic surveillance. For the powers that be winning this war is counter productive to their ends, a status quo that keeps the right pockets full and the people begrudgingly tolerant off the creeping bureaucratic chains closing in around them. Sorry Anon, we were never there to win a war, just to fight one.

>>138946956
or maybe the us should just annex afghanistan i mean that country has a lot of natural resources soo thats a big bonus

>>138944075
Pic related is like the perfect waifu desu.

>>138947191
having a never ending war isn't great so what if the war stop?

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Pretty hardcore country made up of tribes that all hate eachother and everyone else.

Very difficult to conquer, as there is no one people or even a real country.

>>138947580
fucked up solution is to "reduce" those tribes if you get what im saying

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>>138948020
Yeah I mean obviously the easiest solution is to choose a tribe and back them, have the rest eliminated. But fuck we tried that with the Taliban. It sorta worked for a while, but they didnt finish the elimination part of their deal. Instead it all kinda fell appart.

>>138948403
what if we don't support any tribe and we do the eliminating ourselves? the us has huge amounts of troops weapons and bombs

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>>138948708
Yes of course, again an easy solution. The easiest. But there are reprecusions to such actions, and the potential fallout from loss of trade and global anti americanism alone would be difficult to contend with. We would gain the resources, but using them effectively would be harder than is desired. Cooperstion is still the best for the usa long term.

>>138944075
Okay retard, what happens when your own soldiers no longer follow orders because your forcing them to commit crimes against humanity? What happens when the media is blasting horrific video 24/7 to show how horrible things are? What happens when people stop joining the military because its reputation is horribly tarnished? What happens when unrest foments back home and the population starts to act out against the government? What happens when people all over the world join terrorist groups to stop the Great Satan?

Optics are an important part of war.

>>138949740
im not saying we should commit crimes againts humanity but do just enough to win