Thoughts On 11th Anniversary of The Afghanistan War

• The original purpose of the invasion was revenge for 9/11. Wrong reaction in the wrong place.
• The war was conducted in the early stages by complacent, ignorant politicians and generals who thought it would be a cakewalk against all the lessons of history.
• No sense of direction or strategy emerged in the period 2002-2008. Resources were split with the twin debacle in Iraq.
• As the stalemate and catastrophe dawned on the US authorities they came up with half baked and hollow reasons to stay, including the ludicrous 'education for girls' pretext.
• Obama came in and took atrocious advice that Afghanistan was the 'good war', Iraq the bad war.
• The killing of Bin Laden was never going to make a difference to the debacle. He had become marginal, his significance pertaining to propaganda for Obama's re-election and not much more. This came as a bit of shock to the Pentagon boneheads.
• The casualty levels for US military are actually quite low in proportionate terms. But they are almost daily which is a humiliation for them and the US. 
• The US is unlikely to make it to 2014 for the 'Mission Accomplished' claptrap - the peace of Obama's speechwriters. The Green on Blue developments have been a disaster for their spatchcocked strategy of 'joint operations'.
• Obama thinks drones will succeed where the US military on the ground have failed.
• The Taliban have won already.