Quote Originally Posted by trewornan View Post
My immediate reaction was to say: well the Russians didn't do too well in Afghanistan. However knowing something about the history of Afghanistan I think that would be harsh.

We might eventually get some level of control in Iraq but take my word for it Afghanistan is never (never, never, never) going to be controllable. It's a bad mistake to stay there - having cleared out the Taliban we should have pulled out completely and left it for the warlords to fight over. It's what they've been doing for millennia, that's how they like it - even the Russians (and the Taliban, the British Empire (at it's height), etc) couldn't sort the place out and for sure no modern democracy has the will.
I couldn't agree with you more on this point. It was meant tongue in cheek but now that I re-read it there is no way it sounds the part.

A history, such as that region has, would preclude that fighting them is a waste of time.

Personally (and I know this isn't solicited) I believe the ideal situation is impossible. That situation would be one where we simply move back to the borders and not let anyone in or out until they figured it out amongst themselves. At least at that rate, the fighting is contained and thus public fears would be lessened. Then again maybe not. Either way, not something that could or would ever happen for too numerous reason to discuss here.