Re: Stupid bastards
Yeah have read similar, it ended up being a war of some attrition, not for material in the US though on how many bodies it could tolerate coming back in caskets.
Thing is though that's pretty much total war too bad if the civvies get carpet bombed etc estimates are between 30% & 50% civilians killed of the total losses.
You can't do that, half the reason we have problems is because there are people there who have no idea what's going on (there were some studies that suggested the first a lot of Afghans new about 9/11 was when we all turned up pissed off about it) just someone started invading their country. You have things like the Sons Of Iraq who were nicely being employed by the Americans (I think for about $60 a day per soldier.(but would have to go back and check refs), but were then left unemployed after the Shiite gov moved in (they were mostly Sunnis), guess who employs them now?
Bombing the living fuck out of a culture we don't really have a handle on because of tribalism and religion is not really going to work we do not have enough understanding of the ramifications. Plus Nietzsche may have had a point about hunting monsters and the abyss.
This was part of my point on buying up opium, you would buy it at a decent price, tell the farmers sell it to the dealers and you have no business (and you would probably be beating the price anyway since per kilo it's about $130 USD; prices 2015). Remove a significant chunk of the opium trade, Afghans start making money, build up the infrastructure, buy their hemp, get them to start a clothing line call it Kush clothing or something, open up the trade in Afghan melons and at some point when they start buying things from us.
Next time someone from the Taliban turns up and talks about the evil westerners your farmer might be thinking "Well yeah, but if I join you I am going to have to explain to my wife why I can't buy her that channel number five she saw on our Sony flatscreen, i had my eye on a new Hilux, and my kids quite enjoying playing in a team online with a bunch of these Westerners, apparently they are the SAS and erm shooting you lot".