The Taliban attack the Afghan Coalition Base

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/0 ... ?hpt=hp_t1

Just thought I would share a recent Taliban attack on the Afghan coalition base. 77 U.S. troops have been injured in the attack.

This is nothing, the terrorists are just getting desperate to find ways to scare us.

That is a lot of US troops injured in one preemptive strike by the Taliban.

The Taliban are broken, and they should be thanking their lucky stars that there is so many caves to hide in. It's a shame that the Afghan military can't wipe their own ass without foreign assistance, or America would be out of there by now.

How many more soldiers did we lose in Vietnam? Compared to past wars, attacks like this have more of a morale effect than a tangible resource effect.

Afghan National Army can't do shit in my opinion. Actually personally thinking i generally think their the worst army on this planet. They would be no where without the assistance from US/British military experts. Taliban would of got destroyed by now if they were fighting conventionally and not Guerrilla style.

Not unexpected, I don't think anyone was surprised.
On a side note, I bet airfare was dirt cheap today.
Ah, I'm a terrible person aren't I, but you probably still laughed.

The Taliban would not be able to beat the ANA. They don't need us. The Taliban is only fighting because we are still there. If we left, they would have nothing to rally behind, no reason to keep fighting. Afghanistan would be united by Afghans again, and the people would more or less be satisfied. There wouldn't even be a power vacuum for them to fill again. They would probably turn into a radical political party, maybe a rebellious group with no cause.
And they definitely wouldn't be harboring terrorists again, as there aren't anymore terrorists left to harbor.
The reason we are not out of there is because our politicians are not willing to bring us out. They use it simply as an issue with which they can sway voters.
Our Generals are not willing to announce that the war should be ended, as it is not in the General's nature to admit defeat, they got their jobs because they are ambitious and persistent, not because they admit defeat, but because they do not know defeat.
The only people who can end the war are our leaders. And they don't plan on it.
Don't think for one minute that the war in necessary anymore, or that the Taliban and/or Al-Qaeda needs to be destroyed, because they can't be.

Its true. Most of their remaining forces are the newer recruits that joined up due to the occupation.

And even that number is starting to dwindle. The Taliban is running out of manpower.

And even that number is starting to dwindle. The Taliban is running out of manpower.[/quote:2v0jp4nk]
Still, as long as we are there, more people will try and get us to leave. And as we are armed, so will they be. This war is circular in logic, and thus is an illogical war. We need to break this circle, and now.

And even that number is starting to dwindle. The Taliban is running out of manpower.[/quote:1n0y17du]
Still, as long as we are there, more people will try and get us to leave. And as we are armed, so will they be. This war is circular in logic, and thus is an illogical war. We need to break this circle, and now.[/quote:1n0y17du]
Uhhhh.... :shock: :shock: :shock: :? :? :?

Since we've arrived resistance has been trending down, not up. GDP/c has risen and subsistence living has entered a major decline. Of course even if we doubled the GDP of Afghanistan it would still be one of the poorest nations on the planet, but our goal isn't nation-building, it's conflict eroding. CT works well and a protracted drawdown accorded to the timeline will be the best for us in the end. We just need to be careful with our money.

We're winning, by an enormous margin. Our goal in the war is at hand, we just need to stay the course. Obviously we could stand to send most of our forces back home, but not at the cost of our victory. Defeatism isn't going to get us anywhere.

I am not a defeatist, but I think that we have already win. Maybe I made it sound like I think we are losing, but no, I feel as though the war is over, and now we are fighting for the sake of fighting.
And that is not good.
As you said, our goal is not nation building. And right now, that's all we are doing. The Taliban and Al-Qaeda are all but destroyed, we both know that. The war is over. We are now trying, not to win, just not to lose. And we can't lose. So what are we doing? Just fighting.
If we pulled out now, the Afghans could handle themselves, and the Taliban would slowly fade away.

Mission is not over yet the second in command Zawahiri is not captured yet.[/quote:tbzwshyr]

Or dead and buried to sea with Osama Bin Laden.

Zawahiri is not a threat to America. He is useless to Al-Qaeda. The organization itself is useless. We can't just go around killing their new leader every time they appoint a new one. Though I do agree he should be captured/killed, we can't just fight a whole war over the guy.

So you are an obvious anti war guy like my dad. If you listen to my dad he says (accurately) that we invaded Iraq cause we held a grudge against them and regretted that we didn't deal with them for good during the first Persian Gulf War. So he says that that war was just a giant grudge and was totally wasteful of lives, resources, and money. Who agrees?
Before anyone goes hating on my dad I want you to know he is an USAF sergeant so he knows what he is talking about....

@Shawsicle
Well what you need to understand is that no one in the DoD or even in Congress wants to continue fighting. We are acting on the best possible plan because everyone has the same goal in mind: have our troops spend as little time in harm's way and still accomplish our strategic objectives. There isn't an alternative to the status quo that doesn't either sacrifice our ability to accomplish our objectives or else is unable to withstand public scrutiny. Withdrawing faster than recommended by the top military minds in the world is counterproductive, at best, and could very well endanger everything we've fought for so far.

All I know is that Fleet does the flying while MI does the dying.