Afghan culture and people
POSTED BY: dreamtrove
UPDATED: Sunday, August 30, 2026 16:20
VIEWED: 13932
PAGE 2 of 9
I will always have a lot of time for rich, personal accounts of the country of Afghanistan like this one Niki, and the other thread as well. Thank you.
Hmm, still don't know what the best course of action is for the good of this nation and its people though. My inclination is a temporary troop surge combined with new efforts to talk to the 'moderate' Taliban. I don't think we'll ever be able to 'build up' the Afghan state though, around Karzai, through troop/police training or whatever, so that it's strong and cohesive enough to keep stability on its own. I wonder if we might achieve better 'nation building' working directly with amenable local warlords, and fostering trade and prosperity amongst the people under them, but not democracy. This might be the best we can do.
But I don't know, just thinking aloud. A withdrawal to me still just seems irresponsible.
Heads should roll
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Thanks Niki. It's hard to believe this is a place that we need to send more troops to.
Dexter Filkin's book "The Forever War" is about Iraq and Afghanistan. It is one of the most compelling books I've ever read. I think it's the kind of book that a journalist hopes they are lucky enough to have a chance to write one time in their lifetime.
I can't get it out of my head that there's something else going on, some thing they're not telling us. Looking forward to Obama's speech Tuesday.
Scifi movie music + Firefly dialogue clips, 24 hours a day - http://www.scifiradio.com
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Good insights all.
I just had a thought, so I wanted to make a pre-emptive suggestion. I created two threads, one about the war, its impact, and nature; the other about afghanistan, its culture and people. I just wanted to try to keep these two ideas separate. Alternate ideas to the war proposed here are good. I also posted some questions to Niki, should she have time.
Oh, and Nik,
I'm not dodging the topic on the other thread, that thread was created for a specific topic, which I'm interested in. I am dodging an argument, which I always do. Opinions differ, that's life. I'm just interested in new ideas. I tend to ignore opinions, which may be why Pirate News' posts don't bother me: When I get to the part that's pure opinion, I skim or skip. I'll form my own opinion from the facts, an I assume others will do the same. I don't have all the facts and can't hope to, but I can have more than I did. For instance, Karzai controlling the majority of Kabul is news to me. Since it's more recent than the article I read, I''ll accept it until I have time to research it further. (I fully expect the Karzai govt. to fall. I kinda feel bad for the guy, since when it does, he is not likely to survive.)
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Quote:
Originally posted by pizmobeach:
Thanks Niki. It's hard to believe this is a place that we need to send more troops to.
Dexter Filkin's book "The Forever War" is about Iraq and Afghanistan. It is one of the most compelling books I've ever read. I think it's the kind of book that a journalist hopes they are lucky enough to have a chance to write one time in their lifetime.
I can't get it out of my head that there's something else going on, some thing they're not telling us. Looking forward to Obama's speech Tuesday.
Scifi movie music + Firefly dialogue clips, 24 hours a day - http://www.scifiradio.com
Another interesting book, that I have just started to reread is " The Hidden War" by Artyom Borovik
http://www.amazon.com/Hidden-War-Russian-Journalists-Afghanistan/dp/08
0213775X
While its focus is on Soviet troops, the parallels of fighting the same people, in the same country, with similar enough tactics and the effects on the troops trying to understand what and why is very interesting...
Either your with the terrorists, or ... your with the terrorists
Lets party like its 1939
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Quote:
Originally posted by dreamtrove:
Good insights all.
I just had a thought, so I wanted to make a pre-emptive suggestion. I created two threads, one about the war, its impact, and nature; the other about afghanistan, its culture and people. I just wanted to try to keep these two ideas separate. Alternate ideas to the war proposed here are good. I also posted some questions to Niki, should she have time.
Oh, and Nik,
I'm not dodging the topic on the other thread, that thread was created for a specific topic, which I'm interested in. I am dodging an argument, which I always do. Opinions differ, that's life. I'm just interested in new ideas. I tend to ignore opinions, which may be why Pirate News' posts don't bother me: When I get to the part that's pure opinion, I skim or skip. I'll form my own opinion from the facts, an I assume others will do the same. I don't have all the facts and can't hope to, but I can have more than I did. For instance, Karzai controlling the majority of Kabul is news to me. Since it's more recent than the article I read, I''ll accept it until I have time to research it further. (I fully expect the Karzai govt. to fall. I kinda feel bad for the guy, since when it does, he is not likely to survive.)
Likely wind up like Diem,... but the guy has bought his own bullet
the real question is what next
Either your with the terrorists, or ... your with the terrorists
Lets party like its 1939
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Niki,
In one of our posts you refered to a scene from Lawrence of Arabia...
I was wondering if you had seen this movie
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099356/
A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia
Either your with the terrorists, or ... your with the terrorists
Lets party like its 1939
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Quote:
Originally posted by GinoBiffaroni:Quote:
Originally posted by pizmobeach:
Thanks Niki. It's hard to believe this is a place that we need to send more troops to.
Dexter Filkin's book "The Forever War" is about Iraq and Afghanistan. It is one of the most compelling books I've ever read. I think it's the kind of book that a journalist hopes they are lucky enough to have a chance to write one time in their lifetime.
I can't get it out of my head that there's something else going on, some thing they're not telling us. Looking forward to Obama's speech Tuesday.
Scifi movie music + Firefly dialogue clips, 24 hours a day - http://www.scifiradio.com
Another interesting book, that I have just started to reread is " The Hidden War" by Artyom Borovik
http://www.amazon.com/Hidden-War-Russian-Journalists-Afghanistan/dp/08
0213775X
While its focus is on Soviet troops, the parallels of fighting the same people, in the same country, with similar enough tactics and the effects on the troops trying to understand what and why is very interesting...
Either your with the terrorists, or ... your with the terrorists
Lets party like its 1939
Another worthwhile book, introduced to me by a co-worker who is a John Birch Society member, is
Charlie Wilson's War
the inspiration for the movie of the same title. The movie is fun and interesting, and a fair record of the events, but doesn't really provide much insight into the situation . Wonderful performance by Philip Seymour Hoffman, though.
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Another source I like is columnist Eric Margolis...
read a few of his books and wow, amazing his connections... early in his career he toured Afghanistan during the Soviet War... in the hills with the Afghans.
One of his storys is he was given a guide to cross over from Pakistan, a young guy who was on a rest leave... because they were worried someone would recognize him. I guess his job was to walk around Kandahar until he found a smallish group of Russian soldiers.. he would then get close, pull a pistol, blaze away then run... How many have you killed? he asked oh 60-70 I think the guys says... yikes
http://www.ericmargolis.com/political_commentaries/the-pot-calls-the-k
ettle-black.aspx
here is one about corruption and what he thinks will happen next
and his book American Raj is quite interesting too
Either your with the terrorists, or ... your with the terrorists
Lets party like its 1939
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That is all you need to know. Or we'll Pat Tillman your ass.
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I'm not having a lot of doubt on John's sanity here, but war on the war thread? Nvmnd, carry on.
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