BF2S Forums Turning Tables in Afgahnistan (good article)

FEOS wrote:

Please describe the "macro-failure" you allude to.

Hmm, lets see.
Bin Laden still not caught.
The Taleban alive and well and living in Afghanistan, and steadily taking over Pakistan.
The US and others bogged down in an unwinnable war.
The US having brought itself down to the level of the terrorists rather than keeping the moral high ground.
The muslim world galvanised against the US rather than against the extremists and fanatics they don't even themselves like.
Iran approaching nuclear status and the US now lacking the credibility to deal with it.

But hey, an American platoon, with the advantage of NVGs, managed to ambush some Afghans.
Fucking awesome dude.

FEOS wrote:

Irrelevant

But a good example of macro failure though, the guy who planned and funded 9/11 still not caught?

"Alive and well"? You really need to read more.

They are gaining ground in Pakistan, and will retake Afghanistan as soon as the occupying forces leave - see also the point on 'unwinnable wars'.

What does that have to do with the military situation on the ground in Afghanistan? Oh, that's right...nothing.

Its an example of a big fat fuck up which will take years to recover, compared with one minor ambush.

FEOS wrote:

I forgot the OP was descriptive of the entire war...except it is.

Did you mean this bit?

Fight by fight, the infantryman’s war in Afghanistan is often waged on the Taliban’s terms. Insurgents ambush convoys and patrols from high ridges or long ranges and slip away as the Americans, weighed down by equipment, return fire and call for air and artillery support.

Or maybe this?

It was one of hundreds of firefights that have occurred in the Korangal Valley, an isolated region where local insurgents and the Americans have been locked in a bitter stalemate for more than three years.

Waged on the Taliban's terms, stalemate, is that what you meant?

Last week a patrol from the First Infantry Division reversed the routine.

Sounds like one engagement, a few days ago, like you said, need a few hundred more to mean something.

Last edited by Dilbert_X (2009-04-24 06:23:43)

Mek wrote:

That isn't the fault of anyone's except the Pakistani forces/government themselves.

That and the US sweeping them out of Afghanistan and into Pakistan.

Dilbert_X wrote:

FEOS wrote:

Irrelevant

But a good example of macro failure though, the guy who planned and funded 9/11 still not caught?

I thought KSM had been waterboarded over a hundred times. Do you mean to say AQ did that, not the US? You should let the news outlets know.

Dilbert_X wrote:

"Alive and well"? You really need to read more.

They are gaining ground in Pakistan, and will retake Afghanistan as soon as the occupying forces leave - see also the point on 'unwinnable wars'.

What does that have to do with the military situation on the ground in Afghanistan? Oh, that's right...nothing.

Its an example of a big fat fuck up which will take years to recover, compared with one minor ambush.

FEOS wrote:

I forgot the OP was descriptive of the entire war...except it is.

Don't bother yourself with researching the topic beyond a single article or anything. I guess since this single article is convenient to your ill-formed position, you'll not venture beyond it...certainly not actively seek out information that contradicts your view.

If you bothered to research the topic even one tiny bit, you'd know that the Taliban are originally from the ungoverned tribal regions of Pakistan, not Afghanistan. So the fact that they are back there and not where they tried to set up and run an entire nation by their bassackwards code should tell you something about how successful they've been. And, conversely, how successful the Coalition was in kicking them back to their Pakistani mud huts.

But you just can't be bothered, can you?

Dilbert_X wrote:

Did you mean this bit?

Fight by fight, the infantryman’s war in Afghanistan is often waged on the Taliban’s terms. Insurgents ambush convoys and patrols from high ridges or long ranges and slip away as the Americans, weighed down by equipment, return fire and call for air and artillery support.

Or maybe this?

It was one of hundreds of firefights that have occurred in the Korangal Valley, an isolated region where local insurgents and the Americans have been locked in a bitter stalemate for more than three years.

Waged on the Taliban's terms, stalemate, is that what you meant?

Last week a patrol from the First Infantry Division reversed the routine.

Sounds like one engagement, a few days ago, like you said, need a few hundred more to mean something.

Because the media hasn't portrayed the Afghanistan War as unwinnable since they were wrong about the Iraq War, have they?

Do you think it was coincidence that the Afghanistan War started being covered as "unwinnable" immediately following visible, measurable, improvements in Iraq? Every news outlet wants to relive the journalistic "glory days" of Vietnam...so they're fabricating it.

Fucking sheep.