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The U.S. won the fight handily. It's the massive project of reshaping the political culture of diverse and fiercely proud and tribal people that proved to beyon
by torstenvl 5y ago
The U.S. won the fight handily. It's the massive project of reshaping the political culture of diverse and fiercely proud and tribal people that proved to beyond the capability of our military (a role it was never designed or trained for).
- lostlogin 5y agoOut of interest, do you believe you the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan was a win or loss for the USSR?
- torstenvl 5y agoApples and oranges. The topic under discussion is military tech and military ability. The strategic victories or blunders of civilian leadership and diplomatic corps are just as important -- indeed often moreso -- but they are somewhat orthogonal to military strength. There are only a couple ways to lose a battle, but countless ways to lose a war.
- lostlogin 5y agoThat’s exactly my point - of course the former USSR and current US have a more powerful military than anything that exists or existed in Afghanistan. It wasn’t solely a military problem but both chose a primarily military solution (as did the British before them).
- torstenvl 5y agoYou appear to be disagreeing with my disagreement with "the us couldn't win a fight with a bunch of villagers with ak47 for 10 years" How does your point support the original claim? You and I are in agreement that fighting alone can't solve the problem of Afghanistan, but I don't see how that bears any relationship to judging the fighting.
- lostlogin 5y agoSorry, I’ve completely missed your point (despite reading it. Sigh), and as you say, I’m agreeing with you. I’ll leave my comments unedited unless you’d like them gone.
- torstenvl 5y agoNot at all, brother, I appreciate the mutual respect and engagement. Thanks for making HN a great place :-)
- LAC-Tech 5y agoReshaping the political culture of a nation will either take decades, or be extremely brutal. The public won't stand for either anymore.