The Afghanistan Papers:
A secret history of the war
Washington Post,
by
Craig Whitlock
&
Leslie Shapiro*
Original Article
Posted By: LittleHoodedMonk,
12/9/2019 4:35:25 PM
For 18 years, America has been at war in Afghanistan. As part of a government project to understand what went wrong, a federal agency interviewed more than 400 people who had a direct role in the conflict. In those interviews, generals, ambassadors, diplomats and other insiders offered firsthand accounts of the mistakes that have prolonged the war. (Snip) After a three-year legal battle, The Washington Post won release of more than 2,000 pages of “Lessons Learned” interviews conducted by the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. Those interviews reveal there was no consensus on the war’s objectives, let alone how to end the conflict.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
Paglia guy 12/9/2019 4:47:02 PM (No. 257381)
President Trump should fire half of all the Admirals and Generals, and our armed services would be much better off. They are all appointed by Congress, and start with those promoted during Democrat majorities. These endless jobs programs, which is what wars have become, must stop. I knew Afghanistan was a farce ever since Obama said that was the war to fight.
4 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
JonR 12/9/2019 4:51:42 PM (No. 257386)
This clearly shows that after the debacle of Vietnam we have learned nothing! All those lives dead or ruined plus billions of dollars wasted! Doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result shows the collective insanity that defines our government! Un F’ing believable! Damn the political class to hell!
14 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
montwoodcliff 12/9/2019 4:55:53 PM (No. 257389)
Let us not forget about all the good generals that Obama purged and replaced with his own kind. He should fire all of THEM! Now Trump is stuck with the problem, which is why he is looking for a deal with the Taliban because he doesn't see any way out without a major commitment of troops to wipe them out once and for all.
7 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
bighambone 12/9/2019 5:07:53 PM (No. 257392)
Some stories that have come out of this Washington Post expose have inserted President Trump’s name into their reporting next to Bush and Obama that gives a fraudulent insinuation that Trump supported the Afghan War, when in reality Trump has been against the USA becoming involved in and remaining tied to that war since the get-go. Every time Trump mentions getting out of Afghanistan entirely or reducing the number of troops there, he is opposed by the DC special interests, civilian, political and military, who want to keep a big US military presence there indefinitely.
8 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
qr4j 12/9/2019 5:18:03 PM (No. 257394)
Why would I trust the WaPo? Don't they work for Hillary and Obama, just like the FBI?
2 people like this.
This is a tragic joke. From Bush43 through Obama and now PDT, there is no excuse for our inability to either "win" this, or turn it over to the Afghans and leave. Instead we continue to blow billions into trillions of our resources and get "heroes" killed. As for firing those crappy generals, seems that's all we ever have, and no bench. Americans should be mad as hell about all this and more. And it's the same in Iraq. Shameful, all around - militarily, politically and however else one wants to look.
1 person likes this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
LC Chihuahua 12/9/2019 5:59:41 PM (No. 257411)
This sounds like another way for the left to snipe at Trump. 2000 pages? The Washington Poo will carry this on for at least a week releasing new 'findings'. its definitely meant as a distraction what with the timing.
Its simple. We won the war. We could not win the peace. Remember nation building? Well, not in Afghanistan. Certainly not a Democracy. The best you can hope for is a dictatorship with a large strong military that is favorable to the United States. They will have to bust many skulls to keep everyone in line. It won't be pretty. That will never happen since the US doesn't support dictatorships which is probably wise.
We could pull out, but just remember, Afghanistan is an excellent place for terrorists to rebuild and grow. We pull out, and odds are good we will be back there someday because there will be another terrorist threat.
This has been going on for 18 years. Its time to go. We have less than 10k troops there. The elected government will likely fall because he who has the most guns wins in the end in Afghanistan.
1 person likes this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
bad-hair 12/9/2019 6:04:13 PM (No. 257413)
Sorry #7 Wins what ? Afghanistan ? How long did it take the Russians to bug out ?
3 people like this.
Anyone else a bit suspicious that a 3 year lawsuit (prior to Trump admin, or just at the beginning) was settled just in time for the WaPoo to release this story on this particular day?
And, as another poster mentioned, Obamination thought it was the right war, the just war.
Trump was against this war, and Iraq too.
Considering the Democrats have been on his heels about phony dossier's, phony Russian collusion and now trying to impeach him for no crime, he really couldn't be held accountable for not having the political capital to remove the troops. After all, it's not that easy.
But, not sure we were supposed to "win" anything, but simply hold off the Taliban, and turn the place over to a democratically elected government, which we did. They just aren't able to muster as much firepower as their enemies which are numerous.
1 person likes this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
pebbles03 12/9/2019 8:07:55 PM (No. 257484)
Criminy, even I figured out after the first 10 or 12 years that we had no plan and no plan to make a plan. Fortify Baghram, and work on our robotic killing systems.. Or do the right thing and leave.
0 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
Rumblehog 12/9/2019 9:40:56 PM (No. 257536)
Stop the presses! Weren't Demonrats railing at GW Bush to stop the war on Hussein in Iraq and to go after the real bad guys in Afghanistan?? Demonrats were all 'down for the struggle' in Afghanistaahhn, but now they're whining about it?
2 people like this.
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* [w/ Armand Emamdjomeh.]
It doesn't take a genius to figure out why any of our "War on Terror" in-countries drag on. The dRATS infanticide party want to have a stick to beat the Military with when they in fact don't support their missions. With our firepower, it should be, "Damn the torpedoes. Full speed ahead" on the battlefield. We control the prime air corridors, but are hampered every time by the claim of civilian causalities, while our enemies and their proxies don't care. Getting lawyers out of our Military mix would greatly help our battle plans. We weren't raised to be animals, and therefore have to accept what war is. And, knowing that fight to end it quickly to stop endless, future suffering. (Interesting timing for the release of this article.)