Originally Posted by
munnst
I came across a memorial to British soldiers lost during the conflict in Afghanistan in Reading.
Names like Kandahar caught my attention. Funny I thought "They were quick to place this memorial?".
Then I noticed the dates. 1800's. I guess we never really left in the first place.
The withdrawal worries me. Shades of airlifting people of the Embassy during the last days of Vietnam.
What worries me more is when we inevitably return and loose more lives re-taking the territory we just surrendered.
You can't win in Afghanistan because there is nothing to win. Just miles of rocky, featureless terrain held by thousands of deidcated, featureless enemy.
I look forward to the innevitable influx of refugees from Afghanistan that we created.
We never seem to learn do we?
I heard a tale about 10 years ago, that when British troops pitched up in Maiwand in a relaxed posture with an obvious 'hearts and minds approach, the village elders were initially nervous.
When conversation began to flow through a 'terp, they revealed they were nervous because they saw the union flags and assumed the British were back to avenge their losses at the Battle of Maiwand, 1880!
As the Taliban said - they have all the time...