# America ! WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU STILL IN AFGHANISTAN ?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-why-the-fuck-are-you-still-in-afghanistan/615108>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [March 8, 2012, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-why-the-fuck-are-you-still-in-afghanistan/615108 "2012-03-08T03:34:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 5

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**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-why-the-fuck-are-you-still-in-afghanistan/615108/81 "2012-03-13T19:12:18Z")

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It’s telling that the _mistaken_ burning of _some pieces of paper with writing on them_ caused much more of an uproar over there than the _deliberate_ killing of _women and children_.

(I’m not dissing anyone’s religion, nor religion in general, nor am I suggesting that many Afghan citizen’s aren’t horrified by that US soldier’s rampage…but, again, the contrast is telling. Yet another indication to get out of there ASAP.)

(Loved the “Risk” analogy, BTW.)

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**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-why-the-fuck-are-you-still-in-afghanistan/615108/82 "2012-03-14T18:19:13Z")

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> [@elucidator](#):
>
> For starters, I very much doubt that there is such a thing as “Afghanistan”. There is a geographic entity, with borders, a UN seat, and a presumed national government that controls Kabul. We would first have to build a country, and then we could consider what directions such a country might take. Pretending such a country already exists, and we only need to train and support its self-defense capacity is an exercise in delusion.
> 
> We never should have done it in the first place, as I said in these pages at the time, and received an epic beat-down. But the madness was upon us, and the voice of reason was the voice of treason. It was wisely said, that if you are embarking on a mission of vengeance, first dig two graves.
> 
> Have we already forgotten how we bought our allies on the open market, with cash? What did we imagine we were buying, loyalty? We have charged into a swamp of misery and ignorance, and brought only pain and death. Staying will not make it better. We must go. And when we go, what little we have accomplished will vanish with us. This is a cold and ruthless truth, but it is the truth.
> 
> Out now.

How true. I was looking a an old National Geographis article, of Afghanistan in the 1950’s. The king controlled little more that the 30-40 miles around Kabul-the rest was the domain of warlords.  
What has changed? It actually is worse today.

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