CougarCorner

If you ask, most people still support the US military intervention in Afghanistan. It took me a while but I'm fully convinced the whole US involvement in the Middle East, including Afghanistan was a waste of life and money. The Taliban control more of Afghanistan than anytime since 2001. And while they are despicable, at least they outlawed the slavery and rape of young boys unlike the US allied Afghani police force.

We just need to come home and stop all the interventions in the Middle East (and everywhere else).

Anyone interested in US involvement in Afghanistan post-9/11 should read the book "Hammerhead 6" about the tour of reserve special forces from Utah and how they turned the tide in some of the least friendly valleys by serving the people rather than fighting them. When they left the valleys were largely pro-American, but when the conventional forces took over after their departure with their conventional approach to the fight, the valleys quickly devolved back to the pro-Taliban and became the site of Operation Redwing and other tragedies for American forces.

Their approach (Hammerhead 6's) to the problem is the kind of foreign intervention I could get behind.

Afghanistan is a hole. It's an awful country with a backward (by western standards) population. Our sole focus should have been killing every last al Qaeda member and anyone found providing any modicum of support to them. If we weren't/aren't willing to destroy evil philosophies, then don't half-@$$ it.

snoscythe wrote:Anyone interested in US involvement in Afghanistan post-9/11 should read the book "Hammerhead 6" about the tour of reserve special forces from Utah and how they turned the tide in some of the least friendly valleys by serving the people rather than fighting them. When they left the valleys were largely pro-American, but when the conventional forces took over after their departure with their conventional approach to the fight, the valleys quickly devolved back to the pro-Taliban and became the site of Operation Redwing and other tragedies for American forces.

Their approach (Hammerhead 6's) to the problem is the kind of foreign intervention I could get behind.

That makes 2 of us.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/17/world ... .html?_r=0

snoscythe wrote:Anyone interested in US involvement in Afghanistan post-9/11 should read the book "Hammerhead 6" about the tour of reserve special forces from Utah and how they turned the tide in some of the least friendly valleys by serving the people rather than fighting them. When they left the valleys were largely pro-American, but when the conventional forces took over after their departure with their conventional approach to the fight, the valleys quickly devolved back to the pro-Taliban and became the site of Operation Redwing and other tragedies for American forces.

Their approach (Hammerhead 6's) to the problem is the kind of foreign intervention I could get behind.

I used to serve as a support guy for the 19th SF Group in Utah. They were some very good guys, and I can see how some of them being returned missionaries would go out and do what they had learned for years, serving as missionaries and/or in their Special Forces training. How did Ammon win over Lamoni and his father? The principles haven't changed in the last 2,000 years.