Seven years (and three days) after the initial invasion of Afghanistan, with no clear goals beyond trying to get rid of the Taliban, which a semi-indigenous political movement, thus very hard to eliminate. People are slowly, very slowly realising what most sane people said at the time – Afghanistan cannot be occupied – particularly not with such unclear aims, and wanton killing of civilians. Indeed as Bush said, the “oppressed people of Afghanistan … know the generosity of America”. While the Age article seems heavy on reporting and light on comment (in a strange a reversal of pro-war reports from Afghanistan – usually on Aussie troops), sanity is starting to see the light of day. Other ill-planned, failed Afghan invasions, include three Anglo-Afghan wars over 80 years from about 1840, the Soviets in the 1980s (Just three more years before our troops match their 10 years), endlessly complex wars between the “Northern Alliance” and the Taliban. We were never going to do any good.
Worryingly, at the end of the article, both Presidential candidates pledge more troops – showing a complete lack of understanding of the situation.
