# Winning the war in Afghanistan. How? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 13, 2009, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winning-the-war-in-afghanistan-how/517431 "2009-11-13T11:47:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winning-the-war-in-afghanistan-how/517431/41 "2009-12-07T02:09:13Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > That never works. People aren’t morons; if someone gets aid from the US, and ruthlessly crushes people the US doesn’t like then everyone will know he’s a US puppet. And anyone who isn’t a puppet is going to hate us, because we deserve it. What if he genuinely wants to be an ally of the US? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winning-the-war-in-afghanistan-how/517431/42 "2009-12-07T02:18:49Z")
> [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > What if he genuinely wants to be an ally of the US? Then he wouldn’t fulfill our purpose, since we’d be looking for a puppet and not an ally. Allies generally tend to do things like say “No, I won’t massacre my own people because you want me to”. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winning-the-war-in-afghanistan-how/517431/43 "2009-12-07T02:21:15Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Then he wouldn’t fulfill our purpose, since we’d be looking for a puppet and not an ally. Allies generally tend to do things like say “No, I won’t massacre my own people because you want me to”. I didn’t say massacre, I said suppress Muslim Fundamentalists if they were growing violent. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winning-the-war-in-afghanistan-how/517431/44 "2009-12-07T02:31:17Z")
[http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle\_East/IJ23Ak01.html](http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IJ23Ak01.html) How likely is that. Turkey gives America the largest disapproval ratings of any country. They do not love us. It is pretty clear that Northern Iraq will become a Kurdish state ,with oil revenues. The Turk kurds will leave just tearing Turkey apart. Our war has become a threat to their state. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winning-the-war-in-afghanistan-how/517431/45 "2009-12-08T23:17:15Z")
Today Karzai says we will have to do the heavy lifting for 5 years. Then for the next 15 we will have to fund their soldiers. So he wants to have his corrupt little hands in our pockets for at least 20 years. Yep, this is a real good idea. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winning-the-war-in-afghanistan-how/517431/46 "2009-12-09T02:32:46Z")
After we waste blood and treasure in Afghanistan we will of course have done nothing about Al Quada. That means we have to go into Pakistan for them. Pakistan is ass deep in Al Quada and also have nuclear weapons. It just gets uglier and uglier. We have to develop intelligence capabilities in the middle east. Part of our problem all along is we have been flying blind. That is part of the reason we went into Iraq. Our intelligence was for shit and we went where we should not have. The other part being the neocons wanted a nice war. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winning-the-war-in-afghanistan-how/517431/47 "2009-12-09T17:26:02Z")
The irony is we financed the Afghani troops ,trained them and gave them weapons to fight the Soviets. Now we are fighting them. They are better troops and much better equipped now. They have our tax money and opium money ,along with Saudi money to finance them. We are sowing what we seeded. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winning-the-war-in-afghanistan-how/517431/48 "2009-12-09T18:59:49Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > We are sowing what we seeded. Reaping what we sowed. Sowing is the act of planting seeds. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winning-the-war-in-afghanistan-how/517431/49 "2009-12-10T18:33:15Z")
[World: Taliban and Al-Qaeda -- Provincial vs. Global](http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1054493.html) We are conflating the Taliban and Al Qeada. The Taliban hes no global interests and is not a threat to America. Al Qeada is vengeful and wants to strike at America for our actions in the middle east. The Taliban had no part in the terrorism acts against America including 911. Al Qeada trained in Afghanistan. It is a big country and is run largely by local war lords and drug runners. To hold the entire country responsible for the training grounds is ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winning-the-war-in-afghanistan-how/517431/50 "2009-12-14T00:22:33Z")
I don’t understand why it is up to us to “build” an Afghan nation. It seems to me that Afghanistan is not a nation, and doesn’t want to be a nation (in the Western sense). As for pulling out, yes, the Karzai regime would fall-but if it cannot stand on its own, what is the use of propping it up? Frankly, spending the huge amount of money and lives, to keep Afghanistan under the Karzai regime, doesn’t seem cost effective. Why don’t we spend the money on improved border security, and tracking systems for illegal aliens? That would make more sense. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winning-the-war-in-afghanistan-how/517431/51 "2009-12-14T17:04:38Z")
[Ventura's 'Conspiracy Theory' show probes 9/11 mysteries - Raw Story](http://rawstory.com/2009/12/venturas-conspiracy-theory-show-probes-911/) The Taliban is not Al Qeada. Karzai has been on the American payroll since the 80s when we funneled money through him to fight the Russians. He had been making himself rich through our tax money and the sale of opium. We are propping him up. His regime is not legitimate and will fall the moment we leave. He is a crook, but he is our crook. They are eating our tax money for a enterprise that is doomed to fail. But is the pipeline is built and secured, it will be worth it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winning-the-war-in-afghanistan-how/517431.md?page=2)