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Oldgringo:

Forgive me if I have restated your position.

I believe my last comment then was "preaching to the choir"?

SIA

Support the troops - bring them home.

When we see bad guys in their training bases, sic the drones
with Hellfires on them. By the way, one Hellfire costs $77,716.
I've seen Apaches use them to kill one man, rather than using
the 30mm cannon, which would seem more cost efficient.

Afghanistan is where empires go to die. The US is in no better position
to "win" (whatever that means) than Alexander the Great, the British,
or the Russians.

Tightening up our own US borders and watching threats from within would
probably keep us as safe, and be a lot cheaper than trying to occupy a
country and wipe out every cockroach Taliban.

SIA

The Afghan war started out chasing out the Taliban that had
given Al-Qaeda (sp?) a safe haven.

It seems that we are now on a nation building expedition, but
the democracy we'd like to foster has teamed us with a guy who
stole the election, and whose brother is a major league opium
mover.

It would be great if the US could instill democracy in places we
would like to see it.

But if people aren't willing to fight for democracy, and if they allow
themselves to live in 700 AD theocracies, then the US should stop
enriching Halliburton, KBR, and the defense contractors and save
the money.

Theocracy kills democracy.

SIA

Purplehood:
If the average Afghan is renowned for his marksmanship skills, this
would indicate that he's using something other than an AK.

Do you know the weapons with which they show off their marksmanship?

SIA

Purplehood said "the average ANA soldier has no marksmanship skills."

American military personnel in Iraq made similar comments. They said that the Iraqi
insurgents would be much more deadly if they used more aimed fire.

Apparently the insurgents would spray fire from their AK's but not very accurately.
Of course when the lead is flying, someone's going to get hit.

SIA

Did you notice that no particular promises were made as to what
would be accomplished by the time we pull out in 2011?

President Karzai runs a corrupt government. Everyone's on the take
and no one is taking care of the people. Karzai's brother is a bigtime doper.

What about this foolishness that we Americans have to train the ANA
(Afghan National Army) to shoot?? Aren't all Afghani boys given an AK-47
as soon as they can walk? It's their country, and if they can't find the
Taliban, it's because they don't want to find the Taliban.

The Taliban are resurgent because Karzai's a bum and the people don't support
him, especially after he just stole the election. He is derided as being the "Mayor
of Kabul" since the federal government is weak outside of the capital city.

Recent interviews of American military personnel in theater have included several
comments that we ought to leave since the Afghans have to sort out their own
problems.

It seems to me that the troop surge announced in tonight's speech may do some good,
but when 2011 rolls around we're going to leave and let the Afghans kill each other any way they
want.

SIA