afghanistan

[dilf]

ask anyone and they dont know why we are "at war" with afghanistan.
more of britains finest have been killed and if you ask the person next to you why they cant say.

isnt that pointless

[ummmm]

Do you know the answer dilf ? x

[tamborine]

Because the 9/11 thugs who brought down the twin towers were bank-rolled by Osama Bin Laden - who is presumed to be in a cave (with lappy) in Afganistan.

When he is captured/killed peace may be restored!

[ummmm]

Doubt it....!!!

[jake-the-peg]

Wow that's a pretty simplistic view!

[R1Geezer]

we are not at war with Afghanistan we are assisting their governement to establish a viable state. They have some problems with some former tennants, that's all.

Anyway for what it's worth I am trired of seeing our young men murdered in the sh1th0les of the world. I'd pull them out and let them kill each other if it was me, but hey, I haven't been consulted yet!

hang on is that the phone...........

[tamborine]

googled:

http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/FactSheets/O perationsFactsheets/OperationsInAfghanistanBri tishForces.htm

[DEN53]

I so agree with you R1Geezer - it breaks my heart to see all those young men being killed and for what !!

[Julnar]

I assumed we were fighting the Taliban because of their support and funding of al-Qaida, who were responsible for the attacks on the Twin Towers. I was always able to understand the reasoning behind this war, but was never convinced by the arguments for war against Iraq.

[sandmaster]

The Taliban are strong in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Pakistani government has recently relinquished control of some border territory to them. Soon the Taliban will have crept further into Pakistan and so on until they control the country. Pakistan is a nuclear power. The Taliban has links to terrorism. Even if they do not succeed in planting a nuclear bomb in this country (quite easy through export containers) it is quite likely there will be nuclear war between India and Pakistan.
Better to try to take them out now.

[anotheoldgit]

I agree with sandmaster and I was saying this 3 years ago.

The country we should have sorted out was Pakistan, yes I know they are a nuclear nation, but so will Iran be soon. But I don't think either of them would go down that track, especially with Israel (also a nuclear nation) on their door step.

But I think we have now missed the boat, so I think we should now withdraw, with our tail between our legs. But what the Hell, what will we have lost? A base called Camp Bastion in that dusty hell hole of Afghanistan.

But the alternative is too horrible to comprehend.

[rov1200]

The problem this is a 100 year war. There is no end game! If we exit earlier the Taliban will just come back. Its like trying to wipe out the Scottish or Welsh from England. Their offspring will just take their place.

[dilf]

the 9/11 people were saudis why not invade saudi arabia. i agree pakistan is just as much involved as afghanistan so lets go and do pakistan (not me, i'm not well and i have asthma) but send our superfit kids the best we have.
after pakistan i reckon osama might hide in india - send more kids. then turkey or has anyone else got any better ideas. pick a country any country he might be hiding there.
osama bin laden is a friggin myth how come in all this time no-one has got anywhere near him he's a cave man hiding behind a rock surely someone knows someone who knows someone he knows.
one man and a laptop has us beat - who is kidding who.

bill gates makes laptops in america - lets go mo fo - send some kids yeeee ha

[rov1200]

If Bin Laden is holed up in Pakistan he must have consent from the authorities there. With a price of �25million on his head you would think someone would have squeeled by now. If he is holed up in the mountainous border regions maybe the predator planes are not powerful enough and whats required are the 500lb bombs used so successfully in Afghanistan in the early part of the war.

[123everton]

Helluva big question, Afghanistan was the hub for many terrorists cells.
They could go and learn how to set up their organisations and how to make bombs etc. with Al Oaeda acting like a Q.M stores.
Iraq was always for me ab it of waste of time, whereas Afghanistan is winnable to my mind.
Afghanistan was an awful place under the Taliban, it was a threat to national security and it is the national interest to build a stable and just society there.
The problem with Iraq was Bush, he had no exit strategy, he had no idea how to instal a government that was acceptable to the people.
Afghanistan is different, the ethnic and tribal makeup of Afghanistan is far removed from that of Iraq, centralising a government will be hard and will probably require some sort of federal government with elected official from each area representing the tribes in Kabul but being largely autonomous within themselves. Dynastic China may prove a useful model for that idea.
In the meantime I feel we should pay the farmers over the odds for their corn, and then sell it at below cost price to the local corn traders and then gradually reducng the subsidy to reinvigorate the commercial infrastructure and stave off heroin production, either way it's gonna take a good 30 years (at least) to have a trulty stable country there