Originally Posted by Greg700

Roachboy,

there are a couple things I would like to mention.

When I was in Afghanistan, my team conducted a good number of raids into Taliban and/or HIG controlled areas. They almost always resulted in a large number of (enemy) casualties, and often a few Americans. More than one of those raids were conducted against targets which knew we were coming. The women and children had left, and additional fighters had moved in to defend against us. Following those raids, we almost always had a delegation of 'elders' from the effected area come to our base and complain that we killed (insert number between 20 and 100) women and children, but failed to kill any insurgents. They also reported this to the local press and we even saw the occasional article pop up in other muslim-world papers. They would usually even look us in the eye and tell us that we went to the wrong village and that nobody in their village would shoot at us, even though we took casualties and were heavily engaged. I saw the bodies of the ARMED insurgents, and I know for a fact they were lying to us and everyone else. When we seperated them and asked them what the names were of the 'innocent' women and children, the names almost never matched at all. This even occured on a mission where only a single shot was fired...into a man who had a full chest rig of AK magazines, chinese grenades, an AK-47, and an ID card for an insurgent organization (some of them really do that).

Second, most of the fighters in Afghanistan wear what amounts to pajamas and flipflops. When it is cold outside, they almost never travel or conduct attacks. During the summer time (now) there is almost always a large increase in the fighting for the same reason.

Third, Pakistan bulldozed many large refugee camps near the Afghan border, which drove hundreds of thousands of people back into Afghanistan, many of them insurgent leaders who had fled to PK for fear of US attacks. Most of the 'fighters' are paid 300-600 dollars a month to fight against the Americans and/or Afghan Government. This is more than some of them would make in an entire year and is very tempting for a refugee with no home and nothing to eat.

Most of the insurgent commanders operate out of Pakistan, and most large attacks against targets in Afghanistan consist of cross border raids from Pakistan. I can tell you 100% that Pakistani Border police will sit and allow insurgents to attack Afghan outposts from Pakistan and do nothing to prevent it. If Pakistan won't police itself and continues to allow attacks against us to originate from within it's borders, it's hardly surprising that eventually, someone ran out of patience and authorized a few, very surgical cross border attacks. If mexico openly allowed drug smugglers to shoot rockets at our border patrol across the border, how long do you think it would take before we did something about it? how is this any different considering that the Afghan Government is working with us?

Also, you mention attacks against CF and Americans, but you don't seem to weigh them against the tremendous progress that has been made in that country in the last several years. Women can go to school without being stoned to death. People can watch TV, listen to the radio, talk on a cell phone, or go to a Soccer Game without fear of torture. Afghans can vote for the first time and the country has a democratically elected government. Men can choose to trim their beards without fear of going to jail. Afghanistan has paved roads for the first time which greatly prevent accident fatalities (you should see the piles of cars at the bottom of the passes). The Afghan Police are well on the way to being accepted as a professional, and trustworthy organization and they are really 'policing' rather than just taking bribes. The standard of living in Afghanistan has increased dramatically over the last several years. There has been a significant decrease in tribal warfare and blood feuds. Less people are dying now due to the fighting than were being killed under the taliban.

And most importantly: The average Afghan is greatful because we are helping to give them control over their own country once again (remember, the Taliban came from pakistan).

I can accept your opinion that even though the Taliban and Al Qaeda commited an act of war against the United States, we should not have gone to war. I can also accept the argument that it may not have been in Americas best interest to do so. However, while we have significant difficulties, for every step back we take two forward and to imply that our efforts in Afghanistan are a 'disaster' is misguided.