Strategically, Afghanistan; is a poor choice for nation building if you believe

[Uncle Joe]

in that sort of thing being on the other side of the planet, no ocean, surrounded by high mountains, adversarial nations and in the backyard of both China and Russia.

To the Afghanis, we might as well be from the moon.

Regardless I believe sugar would work a hell of a lot better in that situation than vinegar.

[kimbutgar]

1. Afghanistan where empires go to die

I read this book years ago by Gary Jenning Marco Polo and in the book they talked of the land which is now Afghanistan as a place of dead for conquerors. When Marco Palo was going though that land they were told to travel as quickly though there as possible to avoid backwards people.

I am glad we are leaving let some other country try to control it.

[belpejic]

2. The sad thing is that many people, especially women

And girls in major cities, really responded well to having opportunities they hadn't had before. My heart goes out to them, and I hope as many can get out as possible. We certainly owe it to them.

I always suspected that much of our occupation had turned into a giant neocon grift. The fact that Zalmay Khalilzad had somehow morphed into some sort of respected statesman is one example. I know of others. This is why I say that after all of the trillions of taxpayer dollars we sunk into this lost war, we still owe the innocents some freedom.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

3. Nation-building is impossible when all your actions are colonial.

[Uncle Joe]

4. That's the ultimate rub WhiskeyGrinder, "all politics is local."

That's easy to forget when ruling from the other side of the planet.