This is where we should have been focusing our efforts instead of wasting time and money with Iraq. We could be making a real difference in Afghanistan, but no.

Sigh. But then I'm preaching to the choir, ain't I?

Sam

Yes, you're definitely preaching to the choir here. We should have done this in Afghanistan from the beginning, but then we also shouldn't have bailed out on them when the Soviets pulled out. We should have stuck around to help rebuild and to try to moderate the more extremist tendencies of our old friends the mujeheddin.

The sad thing is we fostered the guys who became the Taliban because they were useful at the time and then left them to their own devices.

Of course, I'm one of those people who thought Victor Krulak was right about how Vietnam should have been fought (if we had to fight it) -- small fights with limited forces, with most of our focus on changes that would help build a democratic society. Unfortunately for Vietnam, Westmoreland won out, just as his philosophical heirs have in Afghanistan and Iraq.