Amid reports that the Department of Defense will bolster troop numbers in Afghanistan by 20,000 to 30,000, one can't help but to reflect on the Soviet incursion of the early 1980's.
During the height of Soviet aggression in Afghanistan there were some 115,000 troops armed with essentially no rules of engagement. Murder of civilians, the use of chemical weapons, torture, and carpet bombings were all throughly utilized by the Soviets. Yet, these tactics could not quash the well funded Mujahideen of Afghanistan.
Now, with the lessons of the early 1980's throughly forgotten in the blind haze of patriotism, the United States will attempt to eliminate the Mujahideen with an ever increasing number of troops and much stricter ROE.
What the fuck is going on? It is astounding that the blundering military is repeating the mistakes of old with no remorse for the beleaguered people of Afghanistan.
Perhaps someday the 'superpowers' of the world will see that injecting more violence into an already saturated victim does nothing more than breed more turmoil and destruction.
I fully expect the situation in Afghanistan to become even more dangerous and costly than Iraq within the next few years.
"The most dangerous man, to any government, is the man who is able to think things out for himself without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane and intolerable, and so, if he is romantic, he tries to change it. And even if he is not romantic personally he is apt to spread discontent among those who are." -H.L. Mencken
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