"Deja Vu" in Afghanistan

""We're all seized with (the) problem," Dempsey was quoted as saying. "You can't whitewash it. We can't convince ourselves that we just have to work harder to get through it. Something has to change."" Timescall  

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Add this unsolicited statement by CJCS to the "stand down" order on combined operations with Afghan forces and you have, IMO, the death knell of the expeditionary war in Afghanistan.  If you make your living servicing this war, look for other work.

the situation in Afghanistan will not change.  The COIN illusion of change in the hearts of the Afghans is exposed as a deception perpetrated by ignorant fools.

The meeting between Dempsey and Allen in Kabul must have be a scene worthy of the art of the greatest of dramatists.

Look for Allen to go early in the new term and a suitably disguised rapid withdrawal to begin.  pl

http://www.timescall.com/news/nationworldnews/ci_21559125/army-gen-martin-dempsey-says-afghanistan-must-take

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/us-troops-ordered-to-make-major-reduction-in-joint-operations-with-afghan-forces/2012/09/18/71f34dd6-017d-11e2-b257-e1c2b3548a4a_story.html?hpid=z1

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/44th_Regiment_of_Foot

 

 

Comments

[EGrise]

Now it is not good for the Christian's health to hustle the Aryan brown,
For the Christian riles, and the Aryan smiles and he weareth the Christian down;
And the end of the fight is a tombstone white with the name of the late deceased,
And the epitaph drear: "A Fool lies here who tried to hustle the East."

[Alba Etie]

Perhaps we need a twelve step program for recovering neocons & neo Wilsonians prone to paranoid addictive overseas adventures . First meeting topic will be 'insanity -repeating old behaviors expecting different results " ..
But first all them would have to admit Denial is not a river in Egypt ...

[Al Spafford]

Another pic for the lessons of history:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Remnants_of_an_army2.jpg

[CTuttle]

When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains, and the women come out to cut up what remains, jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains and go to your gawd like a soldier. -Rudyard Kipling

[Jose]

Look for Allen to go early in the new term and a suitably disguised rapid withdrawal to begin. pl

Sir would it logistically possible at this point?

Driving through Pakistan doe not sound like fun right now...

Also, will CT work at this point?

What a mess...

[turcopolier]

ctuttle

Same thing at the Little Big Horn or any number of small Apache fandangos. Harder thing to do than you might think. A friend tried to kill himself with a US issue 1911a1. His hand shook and he just succeeded in making himself a paraplegic. I visited him until he finallt succeeded in killing himself in hospital. He was an old comrade. pl

[Jackie]

CTuttle,
That verse sticks with a person. EGrise's is nice too, but only for the instruction it offers. Can we put it in reverse and get the heck out of there ASAP?

[turcopolier]

jose

Normally a change in polcy means a change in commander. They need to find a Wainwright. pl

[bob randolph]

For those who would like to view the "Last Stand at Gandamack" through the lens of historical fiction, I recommend George MacDonald Fraser's "Flashman".

For those who would like to know more about the Third Anglo-Afghan war (1919-1921)which led ultimately to the final departure of the British and the verity that "insider attacks" have always been a way that Afghans and the tribes of Waziristan deal with foreign occupiers, read Wallace Breems "The Leopard and the Cliff".

[Tyler]

Sir,

In what way? I am only nominally familiar with the general's career.

[turcopolier]

tyler

"Skinny" Wainwright was left to hold the bag when Macarthur left the Phillippines in 192. pl

[Tyler]

And apparently Macarthur fought against his Medal of Honor nomination as well. What a guy.

Reading up, it seems General Wainwright did the best anyone could have with a bad situation.

[Phil cattar]

Yes,I think that is Kipling, who also wrote regarding the Anglo-Afghan wars" No proposition Euclid wrote,No formulae the text books know,Will turn the bullet from your coat,Or ward the tulwar's downward blow.Strike hard who cares,shoot straight who can. The odds are on the cheaper man."

[YT]

Why does this remind me of that (in)famous Last Stand?

http://tainted-archive.blogspot.com/2010/09/great-silent-witness-of-battle-for.html

The Folly of the Occident?