5 ms·

Afghanistan: waste of time

by frozenport 5y ago

melling 5y ago
I wonder if instead we had taken $2 trillion and 20 years to cure cancer(s) instead, how close we would have come.
- Barrin92 5y ago
  Given the amount of money that has flown into cancer research already, probably not a lot closer. Cancer research is actually historically one of the largest wastes of money with some of the worst outcomes in terms of life expectancy increase. And I'm not just being quip, the actual point here is that these generic takes about "military spending bad, xy good" are kind of shallow.
- justinzollars 5y ago
  or infrastructure
  - philwelch 5y ago
    The Senate just passed a bill to spend trillions of dollars on infrastructure.
    - underseacables 5y ago
      And regulate digital currency, require drunk driving detection systems in cars, that infrastructure bill was so helpful!
      - philwelch 5y ago
        Exactly. If you wish for the government to spend a couple trillion dollars on something, be careful what you wish for.
- bumbada 5y ago
  Where does your trillions comes from? It comes from dominating the world and specially oil. If the US does not dominate the world militarily then the US becomes poorer overnight. Would you believe that the US world be able to continue printing $USDs ab infinitum if the world countries didn't need $ to buy energy? If energy countries were free to make deals in euros, yens, renminbis or reals without being invaded by the US the next day, then the US would be much less wealthy. That is the reason the US does not let countries do that. Americans can print as many dollars they want because the rest of the world is forced to buy them. Without that, the $USD would be valued probably half or a quarter of what it is today.
Larrikin 5y ago
Taking down Bin laden wasn't a waste of time, just staying there after he was dead was.
- hindsightbias 5y ago
  OBL left Afghanistan in 2001.
  - dragontamer 5y ago
    Taliban still has significant influence in Pakistan. If OBL wasn't killed back then, you can rest assured he'd be leading the charge today into retaking Afghanistan. Its better that OBL is dead. But the new wave of leaders of the Taliban are still stronger than expected. ---------- Hell, ISIL / Daesh has splintered off of Al Qaeda and the two occasional get into skirmishes with each other. The leadership was in fact fractured successfully. It may not be enough for a lasting peace, but I wouldn't say that its completely worthless.
    - iammisc 5y ago
      > still stronger than expected. They're only stronger than expected if you let the US media and US intelligence services set your expectations. If you had come to your own conclusion, you would have realized that the Taliban is one of the few entities actually able to hold Afghanistan and nothing the US did made it less potent in its ability. All we did was give them a twenty year break to amass more forces, more resources, and more training.
      - dragontamer 5y ago
        > All we did was give them a twenty year break to amass more forces, more resources, and more training. They would have had more forces and resources if they were in control of the country for the last 20 years. In fact, that's why they're trying to take over the country again, to once again have control of the Opium / Poppy farms and start getting more money for their organization. Now the question is: is it worthwhile for the USA to hold onto those farm locations just so that the Taliban won't come into power? Probably not. But lets not be too hasty in our judgement here. The value in that land may be miniscule for the USA, but its of huge value to the Taliban.

Afghanistan: waste of time

melling 5y ago

I wonder if instead we had taken $2 trillion and 20 years to cure cancer(s) instead, how close we would have come.

Barrin92 5y ago
Given the amount of money that has flown into cancer research already, probably not a lot closer. Cancer research is actually historically one of the largest wastes of money with some of the worst outcomes in terms of life expectancy increase. And I'm not just being quip, the actual point here is that these generic takes about "military spending bad, xy good" are kind of shallow.
justinzollars 5y ago
or infrastructure
- philwelch 5y ago
  The Senate just passed a bill to spend trillions of dollars on infrastructure.
  - underseacables 5y ago
    And regulate digital currency, require drunk driving detection systems in cars, that infrastructure bill was so helpful!
    - philwelch 5y ago
      Exactly. If you wish for the government to spend a couple trillion dollars on something, be careful what you wish for.
bumbada 5y ago
Where does your trillions comes from? It comes from dominating the world and specially oil. If the US does not dominate the world militarily then the US becomes poorer overnight. Would you believe that the US world be able to continue printing $USDs ab infinitum if the world countries didn't need $ to buy energy? If energy countries were free to make deals in euros, yens, renminbis or reals without being invaded by the US the next day, then the US would be much less wealthy. That is the reason the US does not let countries do that. Americans can print as many dollars they want because the rest of the world is forced to buy them. Without that, the $USD would be valued probably half or a quarter of what it is today.

Larrikin 5y ago

Taking down Bin laden wasn't a waste of time, just staying there after he was dead was.

hindsightbias 5y ago
OBL left Afghanistan in 2001.
- dragontamer 5y ago
  Taliban still has significant influence in Pakistan. If OBL wasn't killed back then, you can rest assured he'd be leading the charge today into retaking Afghanistan. Its better that OBL is dead. But the new wave of leaders of the Taliban are still stronger than expected. ---------- Hell, ISIL / Daesh has splintered off of Al Qaeda and the two occasional get into skirmishes with each other. The leadership was in fact fractured successfully. It may not be enough for a lasting peace, but I wouldn't say that its completely worthless.
  - iammisc 5y ago
    > still stronger than expected. They're only stronger than expected if you let the US media and US intelligence services set your expectations. If you had come to your own conclusion, you would have realized that the Taliban is one of the few entities actually able to hold Afghanistan and nothing the US did made it less potent in its ability. All we did was give them a twenty year break to amass more forces, more resources, and more training.
    - dragontamer 5y ago
      > All we did was give them a twenty year break to amass more forces, more resources, and more training. They would have had more forces and resources if they were in control of the country for the last 20 years. In fact, that's why they're trying to take over the country again, to once again have control of the Opium / Poppy farms and start getting more money for their organization. Now the question is: is it worthwhile for the USA to hold onto those farm locations just so that the Taliban won't come into power? Probably not. But lets not be too hasty in our judgement here. The value in that land may be miniscule for the USA, but its of huge value to the Taliban.