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Afghanistan withdrawal.

Unfortunately I believe this just about sums it up.

Growing poppies still seems to be a big business in Afhghanistan. This needs dealing with and I don't understand why we haven't, effectively, done so to date.

Regards

Richard


Well there is a market for it and as the blessed Margaret said “you can’t buck the market”, if you have a free market that is one of the downsides.
 
Airpower is no replacement for troops on the ground when it comes to reassuring a population.

There is nothing that would reassure me more than having a load of scared kids heavily armed with close and strategic air support not understanding the language and customs rocking up in my neighbourhood, YMMV.
 
There is nothing that would reassure me more than having a load of scared kids heavily armed with close and strategic air support not understanding the language and customs rocking up in my neighbourhood, YMMV.

If that's all that stands between you and being returned to the 15th Century by a gang of bearded misogynist thugs who think they're doing God's work, it's reassuring.

YMMalsoV.
 
If that's all that stands between you and being returned to the 15th Century by a gang of bearded misogynist thugs who think they're doing God's work, it's reassuring.

YMMalsoV.

It's going to happen, whether we pull out tomorrow or occupy their land for another two decades. Taliban are playing the long game.
 
I'm perfectly aware of the British forays into Afghanistan TYVM. Do NOT attempt to Mansplain to me. Not now, not ever.

The point being is that in the 60's and 70's Afghanistan was a progressive State - indeed I was at school in the 1970s with the son of an Afghan Army Officer.

Then 1979 happened and the Soviets started the **** up. Yes the Yanks supplied the Mujahideen with weapons, then abandoned them in 1989 when the Wall came down.

It's a lot more complex than you would have people believe.

Oh, and don't forget it was Tony B Liar that got us entangled there in 2001.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammed_Daoud_Khan
 
If that's all that stands between you and being returned to the 15th Century by a gang of bearded misogynist thugs who think they're doing God's work, it's reassuring.

YMMalsoV.

Its not that simple, the West brought widespread corruption and tribal conflicts most people want to get on with their lives without they and their family being collateral damage. You say the Taliban want to return the place to the 15th century but prior to 911 they were negotiating with the Americans to put a pipeline across the country and were slowly carrying out electrification.
 
Its not that simple, the West brought widespread corruption and tribal conflicts most people want to get on with their lives without they and their family being collateral damage.

I don't disagree that the history that got us to the current situation is very complex. The point I was trying to make is that the Taliban are looking to introduce a way of life that many in Afghan do not want and they are terrified of it; removing the presence of US, UK & other NATO countries' troops does not reassure those that they are not being left to their fate.
 
yes my wife teaches afghan refugees , and reading some of the letters of life under the Taliban is horrific
 
Unfortunately I believe this just about sums it up.

Growing poppies still seems to be a big business in Afhghanistan. This needs dealing with and I don't understand why we haven't, effectively, done so to date.

Regards

Richard
Because Afg. is a bloody big country (650k sq km, slightly bigger than France) , mostly lawless, very poor, and poppies grow like weeds if you provide sun, soil and water. I planted a few yellow ones a couple of years ago and they are everywhere now. Very pretty, in my garden, but bad news if harvested into opium, a very simple process, some rather left field friends of friends of mine did so with poppies in their garden and spent a lot of the next 9 months off their faces before running out and having a bit of cold turkey for a few days. There is no shortage of buyers either.
 
I'm perfectly aware of the British forays into Afghanistan TYVM. Do NOT attempt to Mansplain to me. Not now, not ever.

The point being is that in the 60's and 70's Afghanistan was a progressive State - indeed I was at school in the 1970s with the son of an Afghan Army Officer.

Then 1979 happened and the Soviets started the **** up. Yes the Yanks supplied the Mujahideen with weapons, then abandoned them in 1989 when the Wall came down.

It's a lot more complex than you would have people believe.

Oh, and don't forget it was Tony B Liar that got us entangled there in 2001.
Is posting a link 'mansplaining' now? The term is just another blocker for anyone learning anything from anyone - I'd rather be mansplained/womansplained/catsplained/childsplained and be a little more enriched.
 
Troops on the ground have little psychological effect on insurgents in comparison to air power.

Yes but I didn't mention insurgents, I mentioned the civilian population. Reassurance of friendly population and forces is as important as airstrikes; it prevents panic in the population and helps maintain cohesion of friendly forces.
 
Yes but I didn't mention insurgents, I mentioned the civilian population. Reassurance of friendly population and forces is as important as airstrikes; it prevents panic in the population and helps maintain cohesion of friendly forces.
The fear instilled in the insurgents has a second order and positive effect on the civilian population. For a start the former won't venture out quite as often which allows the civilian population to go about their business a little more easily.
 
Because Afg. is a bloody big country (650k sq km, slightly bigger than France) , mostly lawless, very poor, and poppies grow like weeds if you provide sun, soil and water. I planted a few yellow ones a couple of years ago and they are everywhere now. Very pretty, in my garden, but bad news if harvested into opium, a very simple process, some rather left field friends of friends of mine did so with poppies in their garden and spent a lot of the next 9 months off their faces before running out and having a bit of cold turkey for a few days. There is no shortage of buyers either.

One of the few things that will grow apart from poppies is cotton but the US wanted to protect its cotton growers so that idea went nowhere.
 
Airpower is no replacement for troops on the ground when it comes to reassuring a population.

457 British military lost their lives in Afghanistan. For what ?
Even if you agree the USA (not UK) needed to avenge 9/11 that was with Osama bin Laden/Al Qaeda; not Afghanistan in general or the Taliban. They succeeded in making the Taliban look like resistance fighters.
 


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