Afghan war now longest in US history
POSTED BY: Niki2
UPDATED: Friday, September 19, 2025 19:30
VIEWED: 3756
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The wording is wrong, it should be "longest armed conflict" or something, since so many of the things we've engaged in haven't been declared "wars"; nonetheless, it gets the "prize".Quote:
Wheee...good for us (/snark)
The Afghan war was enormously popular when it began on a fall Sunday eight and a half years ago. Less than a month had passed since the September 11 attacks, and President Bush could draw on deep wells of support when he ordered air strikes against Kabul , Jalalabad and the Taliban stronghold at Kandahar.
"We are supported," Bush said that day, with only slight exaggeration, "by the collective will of the world."
By mid-November American forces had driven the Taliban from the capital; at month's end Kandahar was in the U.S. sights; in early December the Taliban leadership fled, and Marines set up a base near the Kandahar airfield.
No one proclaimed "Mission Accomplished," but they might as well have. Surely, it seemed, this would be a brief campaign.
On the one-year anniversary, in October 2002, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld told CNN, "The Taliban are gone. The Al Qaeda are gone."
And yet here we are, nearly a decade since that October Sunday, and the end of this often-tabbed "Other War" is hard to see, or fathom. Under the order of a new commander-in-chief, the U.S. is now "surging" forces into Afghanistan; a new and complex mission looms in Kandahar; and the Taliban are "surging," too – to devastating effect.
And today "The Other War" has gained a fresh and dubious distinction: it is the longest war in our nation's history, surpassing the conflict in Vietnam. 103 months passed between passage of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and the withdrawal of the last American combat forces from Vietnam. As of today, the Afghanistan war is 104 months old. 
Hippie Operative Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
signing off
To our President: “Mr. President, you're a god damn, mother fucking liar. Fuck you, you cock sucking community activist piece of shit.... oh, go fuck yourself, Mr. President” ...Raptor
To Anthony, unquestionably the most civil person on this forum: “Go fuck yourself. On this matter, make no mistake. I want you to go fuck yourself long and hard, as well as anyone who agrees with you. I got no use for you. ...Raptor
To Frem: “You miserable piece of shit.” ...Raptor
To Niki: “My guess is it won't just be your ugly face you dislike.....Well, it's true......if you had a soul.” ...Raptor
...Remember, remember, the ugliest member...
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Obama and Bush should get a medal. The afghans had nothing to do with 9.11 and even if they did, it wouldn't matter. Obama has really ratcheted it up with talk of how these remote tribes represent the greatest threat to our security. Whatever. Thats like the whaling argument.
But vietnam could be counted from 1960, I suppose Afghanistan could be counter from 1989. And the russians had it before, just like the French in Vietnam. I guess it goes back to what I posted years ago, Iraq isn't Vietnam, afghanistan is.
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Afghanistan is where they should have gone first, if they wanted to root out those who caused 9/11. The government shouldn't have been overthrown, but Al Qaeda should have bene pursued and eliminated. We were well on our way to doing just that, only Dumbya & Co. focused our resources on THEIR "little war" in Iraq, which they conned us into for their own purposes. Those are facts we all know...as well as all that happened subsequently and the dropping of the ball in Afghanistan. To try and pick it up again ten years later has proven futile. Continuing the way they have been is also futile.
Hell, the purpose and the way our government pursued BOTH wars was stupid and Iraq was a mistake in the first place. Our government has always been good at "stupid"
Hippie Operative Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
signing off
To our President: “Mr. President, you're a god damn, mother fucking liar. Fuck you, you cock sucking community activist piece of shit.... oh, go fuck yourself, Mr. President” ...Raptor
To Anthony, unquestionably the most civil person on this forum: “Go fuck yourself. On this matter, make no mistake. I want you to go fuck yourself long and hard, as well as anyone who agrees with you. I got no use for you. ...Raptor
To Frem: “You miserable piece of shit.” ...Raptor
To Niki: “My guess is it won't just be your ugly face you dislike.....Well, it's true......if you had a soul.” ...Raptor
...Remember, remember, the ugliest member...
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Nikita
I'm not all convinced there is a connection between 9.11 and al qaeda, but I'm pretty sure that a war in Afghanistan does nothing but strengthen al Qaeda, esp. The part where we ousted the Taliban. But i also suspect that boosting al Qaeda was the goal.
Bush ignored it because there was no oil. He wanted to fight a war where there was oil. The bottom line is not that one war is right and the other wrong, it's that both wars are wrong.
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You're entitled to your opinion, I just disagree. I agree oil probably was the driving factor, but I think there was more to it, as well, like one-upping Daddy who failed to finish the job, and no doubt more. But most: oil, yes, I agree.
It's kind of a moot point about Al Qaeda, since they've pretty much moved on to Pakistan, Somalia, etc. It's more about the Taliban now, and "not losing". We may have come close to "ousting" the Taliban, but they're strong NOW.
What in heaven's name would American gain by boosting Al Qaeda? I don't see that one.
Hippie Operative Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
signing off
To our President: “Mr. President, you're a god damn, mother fucking liar. Fuck you, you cock sucking community activist piece of shit.... oh, go fuck yourself, Mr. President” ...Raptor
To Anthony, unquestionably the most civil person on this forum: “Go fuck yourself. On this matter, make no mistake. I want you to go fuck yourself long and hard, as well as anyone who agrees with you. I got no use for you. ...Raptor
To Frem: “You miserable piece of shit.” ...Raptor
To Niki: “My guess is it won't just be your ugly face you dislike.....Well, it's true......if you had a soul.” ...Raptor
...Remember, remember, the ugliest member...
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Nikita
Wouldn't you rather that our government produce conclusive evidence and then allow a jury of afghanistan's peers convict it before they execute the defendant?
Also, ousting the taliban isn't much of a goal, and its pretty profoundly not our business, and were doing it so well that they seem much stronger now than they were when we started. I mean, at the beginning, they barely had control of the country, now they're exporting taliban to neighbors.
Quote:
What in heaven's name would American gain by boosting Al Qaeda? I don't see that one.
Then keep looking ;)
It's just got no shortage of reasons. All the things you can do with an unaccountable terrorist group like attack the USSR or Iran, maybe assassinate a few domestic enemies, recruit some Muslims, lead them down a bad path, undermine their society, credibility, grow some opium, run a black market, some black ops, and of course: everyone needs an enemy, especially one that can never ever hurt you, but looks real scary. I mean he'll, it reelected a sub-literate moron to the whitehouse, enabling lots of bennies for people with have a brain, line Hank Paulson, who made him and his buddies a trillion and a half.
But, yes, we need the Taliban as a new enemy, because they also can never hurt us, and there's a bonus womens rights angle to being at war with them, which will appeal more to democrats than the terrorist druggie angle. It's good for your moral mission, especially if you maintain the illusion that tribal Pashtun represent the greatest threat to the worlds wealthiest nation. Don't matter if it don't make no sense, cause americans are perty dumb.
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Oh, not one upping daddy. Bush w never made an executive decision in his life. This was cheneys doing. Daddy bush wouldn't invade Iraq, even with a beautiful set up like the first gulf war, which is why Cheney took his wulfie and peril and supported clinton. That was a box office smash of a move, only problem was, Clinton didn't have what it took to defeat Iraq, because slick willy liked to keep his wars on the down low, starve 'em out, feed in guns, let 'em kill each other. Reason that don't work against saddam is that he didn't care if his people got slaughtered. Well, considering clinton didn't want the media blitz of an actual blitz, wolfowitz, perle run my and Cheney move back to the GOP, got up the old kristol neocon crowd, created PNAC, and invented Bush 2.0. Get a monkey on a string dumb enough, he won't even think about what you tell him to do. 18% of the people who voted for bush said they did so because they thought he was his father - John zogby. (hey, what's in a name)
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Correction: Iraq War has been nonstop since 1990.
That's 20 years so far. Clinton/Gore bombed Iraq every day for 8 years.
Darth Cheney says it will last 100 years...
Sith Obama has been bombing Iraq every day for 18 months.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Niki2:
Afghanistan is where they should have gone first, if they wanted to root out those who caused 9/11. The government shouldn't have been overthrown, but Al Qaeda should have bene pursued and eliminated. We were well on our way to doing just that, only Dumbya & Co. focused our resources on THEIR "little war" in Iraq, which they conned us into for their own purposes. Those are facts we all know...as well as all that happened subsequently and the dropping of the ball in Afghanistan.
You bitch are a goddamned Operative on the payroll of the Evil British Empire, with kosher Comrad Obamski.
Bush, Israel and Britian bombed USA on 9/11/2001 in a false flag attack, as confessed by Pentagon in Operation Northwoods, and everybody with a brain knows it.
Just like the jew Israeli bombing of USS Liberty in a false flag attack to blame the Arabs.
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Oh, Jeez, PN, you're such a dick.
Anyway, DT, I didn't say he was ACTUALLY one-upping Daddy because Daddy did anything (or I didn't mean to anyway), I know both were Darth's war, but just think how easy it would be for Darth to convince Dumbya it WAS completing what Daddy started?
As to us backing Al Qaeda or the Taliban, I'm afraid we'll have to agree to disagree, and let it go at that. There are some theories I don't buy, and that's one of them. I think one can find reasons to believe just about anything if one wants to, and it's not logical, to me.
Certainly the Taliban makes a good enemy to hate, our government's done that from virtually the very beginning. I don't, however, think too many are concerned with the womens' rights angle, it's not the same as fear of personal harm, and that's what the Taliban and Al Qaeda have come to symbolize.
Hippie Operative Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
signing off
To our President: “Mr. President, you're a god damn, mother fucking liar. Fuck you, you cock sucking community activist piece of shit.... oh, go fuck yourself, Mr. President” ...Raptor
To Anthony, unquestionably the most civil person on this forum: “Go fuck yourself. On this matter, make no mistake. I want you to go fuck yourself long and hard, as well as anyone who agrees with you. I got no use for you. ...Raptor
To Frem: “You miserable piece of shit.” ...Raptor
To Niki: “My guess is it won't just be your ugly face you dislike.....Well, it's true......if you had a soul.” ...Raptor
...Remember, remember, the ugliest member...
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME