On Afghanistan

There are a lot of issues in that country; none as simple as the WarMonger Party of Kristol et. al. would like you to believe.

Two years ago, during his tenure as foreign secretary, David Miliband was making small talk with two Afghan ministers while waiting for dinner to be served in the British ambassador’s residence in Kabul.

How long, he asked innocently, did they expect their government forces to remain in power in Helmand after our military withdrew?

‘24 hours,’ came the reply.

...What follows is a saga of American arrogance, Afghan artifice and British impotence. Much of his time is spent trying to restrain a bull-headed ally intent on an impossible military victory after becoming embroiled in complex civil, religious and tribal conflicts running for decades.

[That "bull-headed ally" would be the United States.]

The end result is America spending $125 billion a year to pacify a country that raises for itself less than one-hundredth of that amount. A British officer reveals that when newly-trained Afghan army recruits were told they were going to Helmand, nearly two-thirds disappeared since they were expected to ride around a hostile zone in unprotected pick-up trucks.

As a result, in future they had to be locked in buses and not told where they were going. --Daily Mail review posted by RenMan

Think we're going to get all that equipment out of that godforsaken goat-worshiping country when we leave?

Wanna bet?