[Stammer]

Whatever happened to Afghanistan? I know we still have a small contingency of troops over there but nothings really changed there. (There were elections right?)

Think about this, when we invaded Afghanistan we went in with the support of many other counties, we successfully overthrow a hated regime with the aid of Afghan rebels and coalition troops. Afterwords the people went through the streets playing music, watching movies, shaving their beards, women were removing their burk as, etc. And then we abandoned them and went off to fight an ill-fated campaign in Iraq in which none of our previous allies supported and the ones who did are now pulling their troops out. Cheney had it right when they said we would be greeted as liberators, he just got the country wrong.

Why did Bush abandon Afghanistan? Something that if we worked at could have made him go down in history as one the greatest presidents. Now his place in history will be that of blundering moron.

[ninty]

There are 19,000 US troops in Afghanistan. Along with troops from most other NATO countries. Canada has 1,000 troops there and that number is supposed to go up.

The forces there are under NATO supervision not UN and the Canadians there are part of the Provincial Reconstruction Team. I think the Americans are still looking for "terrorists" but some of them are also part of reconstruction teams. Soon they'll be a mcdonalds and starbucks on every corner of Kandahar.

FYI, Bush is interested in making Afghanistan work. Why would he? What does he care if one country out in the middle of nowhere. All it does is cost money time and manpower.

The reason for going to war in Afghanistan was terrorists that attacked the US on 9/11. However, it has been noted that the US wanted to attack Afghanistan before 9/11 even happened.

Take this article from March 15, 2001:

http://www.janes.com/security/internati ... _1_n.shtml

And this one:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/1550366.stm

[Art Attack]

This is a little off topic but my friend's friend is in the cdn military and he said that Canada does have SOME troops in Iraq right now, and that his troop could be deployed to Iraq in 2007. this was news to me.

[ninty]

There could be troops in Iraq, but it's not public knowledge. I doubt the govt can deploy a lot troops to Iraq without someone finding out. Or maybe he means afghanistan. I know guys who will be in Dubai in Feb and Astan in August 2007.

[c312]

People are still their, sorta like Japan after WWII, they are helping everything get setup, we just don't hear about it because it's going better than it is in Iraq.

[c312]

Originally Posted by ninty

There are 19,000 US troops in Afghanistan. Along with troops from most other NATO countries. Canada has 1,000 troops there and that number is supposed to go up.

The forces there are under NATO supervision not UN and the Canadians there are part of the Provincial Reconstruction Team. I think the Americans are still looking for "terrorists" but some of them are also part of reconstruction teams. Soon they'll be a mcdonalds and starbucks on every corner of Kandahar.

FYI, Bush is interested in making Afghanistan work. Why would he? What does he care if one country out in the middle of nowhere. All it does is cost money time and manpower.

The reason for going to war in Afghanistan was terrorists that attacked the US on 9/11. However, it has been noted that the US wanted to attack Afghanistan before 9/11 even happened.

Take this article from March 15, 2001:

http://www.janes.com/security/internati ... _1_n.shtml

And this one:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/1550366.stm

From the Janes article, sounds like we should have gone in earlier

[elstatec]

gone in earlier so the mess would look even bigger now?


found a interesting article here anyway that does highlight the situation, and if you voted bush then dont read it as your feelings might get hurt.
http://counterpunch.org/whitney06022004.html

[Colonel]

Originally Posted by elstatec

...found a interesting article ..

Sorry dude, I can't take any website seriously that would post revisionist history crap like this: http://counterpunch.org/mickey05292004.html

[c312]

Originally Posted by elstatec

gone in earlier so the mess would look even bigger now?

no, because we knew there were terrorists there and maybe had we done something pre-9/11 it might not have happened...or wait, maybe you like the way it happened...

[TGB!]

You dont hear about AFGHANISTAN because people arent blowing themselves up, American troops arent dying. In other words - its not good enough for American media to cover. Reminds me of when Matt Laurer visited the troops in IRAQ, asked them about morale and didnt get the answer he wanted. They said morale was fine, and Laurer basically said he didnt believe them, and that how can their views be SO DIFFERENT than the "folks back home" who are reading about all the bloodshed and "terro". The soldier flat out replied - "My morale would be low too if I get all my news from the newspaper".

Same situation. Afghanistan is a success. Period. They are in a transitional period moving towards establishing a HISTORY of liberal democracy in the middle east - and thats just not news worthy. Its ridiculous to even think Afghanistan was abandoned. The work isnt done, but in no way has it been "abandoned".

[Short Hand]

You consider Iraq a success ? oOo: oOo:

[descry]

he said afghanistan a success.

[Colonel]

[quote="Short Hand":9fc08]You consider Iraq a success ? [/quote:9fc08]

So far.

[Poseidon]

[quote="TGB!":d6a86]

Same situation. Afghanistan is a success. Period. [/quote:d6a86]

Please explain how you make a success of something inwhich you havent yet achieved the goal??

I'll make it simpler. We went into afghanistan to remove/arrest ABL. This goal hasnt been reached. Yet your still calling the mission a success? How so?

[Colonel]

Well, the President stated that we were going after the terrorists and "all who harbor them". If I'm not mistaken, the Taliban government is gone, and a new democracy is in place and functioning. Sounds like a success to me.