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No, this one.
When we first went in success was defined as a democratic government, lights, water and a democratic government. Did the surge provide that? Generals that told Bush we needed 400 k troops were fired. Now we have approx. 120,000 Halliburton ,Blackwater type troops, 165,000 troops.maybe 125,000 trained Iraqis. Therefore 400,000 bodies. Yet no peace,electricity and no water. We built walls through the city ghettoising the population. Before the war over half the university students were female. Women wore western wear and worked and traveled around by themselves. Now they are back in beekeeper outfits and are afraid to go anywhere. College students and the wealthy and middle classes fled the country. Unemployment is running around 60 percent. We destroyed one of the worlds most beautiful cities. Yep thats success.
Did the USSR have a moral obligation to Afghanistan? If not, what’s the fundamental difference? If yes, how did the USSR do in your estimation?
Many Afghans remember the Soviet intervention in their country as comparing favorably with the current American intervention. At least the Russians built things – roads, clinics, schools. What have we built?
Best metaphor for the situation I’ve heard.