all 17 comments

[–]jet199 5 insightful - 2 fun5 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 2 fun -  (3 children)

How long would that have lasted though?

The Taliban just killed the head of ISIS in Afghanistan, they could likely have killed the leaders who made any pact with the US and gone back to fighting.

[–]Chipit[S] 5 insightful - 2 fun5 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 2 fun -  (2 children)

Mullah Omar? They were going to kill Mullah Omar? Please.

We could have won the war and had the troops back home for Christmas. But the goal was never to win. It was to continue the war, forever. We had deep state officials telling us we were going to be in Afghanistan for 50-75 years.

[–]jet199 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Let's be honest it hasn't been a war for years.

How many Americans died in Afghanistan last year?

It was an occupation and, yes, they tend to be endless unless the situation changes.

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Agreed.

News media rarely - if ever - offers historical assessments that would track the movements of the military industrial complex (including their investors in Washington), which I think - had they done this - would have caused continual protests of the kind seen in the late 1960s. The Middle East - and almost everywhere from Iran to much Africa will continue to be destabilized by military interventions.

[–][deleted]  (4 children)

[deleted]

    [–]jet199 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

    Seriously there's nothing worth anything in Afghanistan. This is why it's a shithole.

    Farmers fighting to the death over whether you can see their wives ankles wouldn't happen if there were any real money to be made.

    [–]Chipit[S] 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (2 children)

    Sure there is. There is a trillion dollars in minerals in Afghanistan's hills. The unelected government was going to hand the extraction contracts to their buddies in private industry and get filthy rich together. Why do you think they're so angry about the withdrawal?

    https://www.mining.com/1-trillion-motherlode-of-lithium-and-gold-discovered-in-afghanistan/

    https://thediplomat.com/2020/02/afghanistans-mineral-resources-are-a-lost-opportunity-and-a-threat/

    Why are you lying about something we all know is true?

    [–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

    Yep - and this is one reason China and Russia are happy to keep their embassies in Kabul. They not only love authoritarian partners, they'll invest billions in the extraction of raw materials, among other opportunities in the region.

    [–]Chipit[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

    It's because they haven't been murdering Afghans left and right. Go figure, people tend not to like that.

    The Chinese already got burned on a multi billion dollar resource extraction deal in Afghanistan. They're not like the US who throws good money after bad.

    [–]IkeConn 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

    Bush 2 wasn't the brightest bulb on the string.

    [–]skeech 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

    the taliban is islam.

    islam not gonna quit fighting until that last muslim is dead.

    islam not gonna quit until it rules the entire planet.

    [–]Vulptex 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (6 children)

    Humans just like to fight each other don't they?

    [–]Chipit[S] 3 insightful - 3 fun3 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 3 fun -  (5 children)

    Nope. Most of us overwhelmingly prefer peace. Only a small number of neoliberals and warmongers like this obscenity.

    [–]Vulptex 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

    Most humans prefer peace for themselves sure. But not for their enemies. Look at any other herd species, especially primates. They will torture each other to death simply for coming across them and finding they're not in their tribe. Or if a member of their tribe dissents against the collective. Tribes will war all the time and glorify conquering and obliterating others and causing them to suffer. And then even within their tribes they battle to the death for power and mates. The same exact behavior is well documented all through human history. They try to hide it now that there's too many people to power trip that hard, but their instincts haven't changed. There's still the instinctive desire to wage war and oppress enemies and become ruler of the world. Even if that's mostly been reduced from actual warfare to internet flamewars between political tribes it's the same basic mechanism; no real thought, just us vs them, and hopefully they suffer. But serious wars still start over it, WWI for instance was started by an insignificant assassination which pretty much became an excuse to start a war they'd been wanting to have. This kind of primal crap explains a lot of outlandishly stupid decisions humans can't seem to learn from and keep making over and over again.

    [–]Chipit[S] 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (3 children)

    There's still the instinctive desire to wage war and oppress enemies and become ruler of the world.

    This is simply untrue. This applies only to sociopaths and psychopaths.

    WWI for instance was started by an insignificant assassination which pretty much became an excuse to start a war they'd been wanting to have.

    The people who started the war were sociopaths and psychopaths.

    Your analysis is faulty and applies only to the ruling class. Who are largely sociopaths and psychopaths.

    [–]Vulptex 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

    Why do you think they're all sociopaths and psychopaths? It's not a coincidence. Humans are generally sociopaths and psychopaths. They just hide it when it benefits them, and for most of the plebs it does. This is why power corrupts.

    [–]Chipit[S] 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

    Humans are generally sociopaths and psychopaths.

    This is untrue. It's a corrosive, ugly misreading of human nature. Likely caused by disillusionment of a utopian fantasy that will never come true.

    Sociopaths are about 1% of the population, same with psychopaths. Unfortunately these people are drawn to power while the rest of us just want to live our lives in peace. They thus disproportionately fill out the ranks of the powerful and commit horrid mass murders on a regular basis in Iraq, Syria, Libya, the list goes on and on.

    [–]Vulptex 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

    They just don't hide it as well. If humans were not naturally evil then why all the emphasis on making outsiders suffer? Why do they take so much pleasure in that? Why do they make pointless rules and laws just to get a rush from abusing power? Why does power corrupt? I believe the answer is that those in power are no longer restrained by higher-ups and know they can get away with anything they want. While the rest are more careful about pretending to be good people. Still generally only toward their own tribe however.

    In ancient times people were serial killing left and right, often for no reason. It was only as civilization developed that this decreased. Humans love to think they're not animals who act on instinct but that's pride at its finest. And our nature is quite bad too.