Video: Winning Hearts and Minds in Afghanistan
posted at 5:07 pm on July 5, 2007 by Bryan
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Here’s the second episode of Winning Hearts and Minds, the series featuring US military efforts in Afghanistan.
We aired Episode 1 on June 21.
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a few more roadside bombs and we’ll pussy out on them too.
tomas on July 5, 2007 at 5:12 PM
awesome. you can tell they really believe in and love what they are doing. We believe in you and love you too!
Keli on July 5, 2007 at 5:13 PM
Our Canadian allies lost 6 spoldiers this week to a roadside bomb.
Let’s hope the less-brainwashed in Afghanistan come to appreciate the sacrifice one day.
And that we are not just giving future jihadists a healthy reason to laugh at our fatal naivete.
profitsbeard on July 5, 2007 at 5:15 PM
Inspiring. All I can say.
Kini on July 5, 2007 at 5:17 PM
It makes one feel good, doesn’t it? What a great story for the nets to carry, but I’m not holding my breath.
Brad on July 5, 2007 at 5:31 PM
Heroes. All of them.
Guardian on July 5, 2007 at 5:33 PM
Boy that brings back memories – heh. When they mentioned the vet I remembered how the Kuchi nomads looked at our vet, COL Smith, like he was something just short of a miracle worker. They would have given him a place of honor with them for life.
The best part of the MEDCAPs are when you see something like a vision problem get fixed. The whole world opens up for someone, because US and ANA docs, PAs and nurses made it to some out of the way place.
major john on July 5, 2007 at 5:39 PM
Thanks for posting this, Bryan. I read about these things every single day on the many Military Blogs that I read (Mrs. Greyhawk at Mudville Gazette posts stuff like this every day in her DAWN PATROLs). But it is nice to see it on a more prominent, more widely read blog like HotAir. I get sick and tired of blogs, including this one, posting 10 stories of bad for every story of good, when, in fact, there are probably 100 stories of good for every roadside bomb and Coalition death that happens. But of course, those stories aren’t “sexy” enough.
You know, people keep bitching about the politicians giving up on the war. Imagine if the American people bothered to flood the Congressional offices expressing their support of the war as they did with expressing their disdain for the Anmesty Bill.
We have only ourselves to blame if the politicians give up on this battle against Islamic Totalitarianism.
Michael in MI on July 5, 2007 at 5:49 PM
Thanks for posting this, Bryan. I read about these things every single day on the many Military Blogs that I read (Mrs. Greyhawk at Mudville Gazette posts stuff like this every day in her DAWN PATROLs). But it is nice to see it on a more prominent, more widely read blog like HotAir. I get sick and tired of blogs, including this one, posting 10 stories of bad for every story of good, when, in fact, there are probably 100 stories of good for every roadside bomb and Coalition death that happens. But of course, those stories aren’t “s*xy” enough.
You know, people keep b*tching about the politicians giving up on the war. Imagine if the American people bothered to flood the Congressional offices expressing their support of the war as they did with expressing their disdain for the Anmesty Bill.
We have only ourselves to blame if the politicians give up on this battle against Islamic Totalitarianism.
Michael in MI on July 5, 2007 at 5:50 PM
Simply heartwarming.
oakpack on July 5, 2007 at 5:53 PM
Awesome video. Those soldiers who go out and kill the bad guys get much of the glory but it’s these fine troopers that do a service that is equally important and in its own way leaves a much longer lasting impression.
Yakko77 on July 5, 2007 at 6:05 PM
Great stuff! Thanks Bryan.
csdeven on July 5, 2007 at 6:07 PM
Thank you for sharing the good news. Every time you try and watch Tv or pick up a paper, all you see is how many killed, and what went wrong. And you know that’s not all that’s going on. I know people that have been over in Iraq (I know this vid is from Afghanistan) and have heard about the things they’ve done. No publicity, they don’t want the publicity, but the MSM should once in a while show something besides bias.
PowWow on July 5, 2007 at 6:14 PM
Definitely good stuff and these MEDCAP missions are some of the most dangerous out there (it is a security nightmare).
Again, just more stuff you won’t see in the MSM.
PBoilermaker on July 5, 2007 at 6:18 PM
___________NBC Headline________
“Marines poison Afgan children”
film at 11:00
TheSitRep on July 5, 2007 at 6:20 PM
Heh.
My instinct is to be rueful that we are making people healthy who may turn around and kill us (I know, bad bad instinct!). But you do good when the opportunity arises. Great goodness from these men.
Jaibones on July 5, 2007 at 7:07 PM
Great stuff! Thanks Bryan.
csdeven on July 5, 2007 at 6:07 PM
Seconded
How are your boys? doing?
Sven on July 5, 2007 at 7:09 PM
Great stuff but shouldn’t we be concentrating on winning the DAMN WAR first?
unseen on July 5, 2007 at 7:42 PM
Great stuff but shouldn’t we be concentrating on winning the DAMN WAR first?
unseen on July 5, 2007 at 7:42 PM
Winning the hearts and minds of the people is one of the most important steps in winning this type of war.
Sven on July 5, 2007 at 7:56 PM
Winning the hearts and minds of the people is one of the most important steps in winning this type of war.
Sven on July 5, 2007 at 7:56 PM
Yeah..sure it is….Vietnam did wonders for our victory by winning the hearts and minds.
If you want to win the hearts and minds give the people security, law and order. The rest takes care of itself.
Look after 6 years we still need to seperate women and men or our soldiers get “lynched” this is not winning hearts nor minds.
We need to change hearts and minds or the some thoughts that allowed the Taliban to grow and control a society will reemerge as soon as we leave.
We did not win the hearts and minds of Germany. We conquered Germany and imposed our will and beliefs on the country. We changed the minds of those that believed in Nazism .
Never in history has a country defeated another and accepted the conquered countries culture instead of imposing its culture on the conquered one.
The USA was the first and Vietnam was the first example. It does not work. PC warfare is wrong.
It was their culture and social norms that bred the Taliban and terrorists. By embracing that culture instead of changing it we are only prolonging the war.
unseen on July 5, 2007 at 9:22 PM
some examples of my above post include:
The Union did not accept the South’s culture of Slavery. The Union CHANGED the culture.
The USA did not accept the Indians ’s cultures we CHANGED the culture of the land.
The USA did not accept the culture of MEXICO in CA,NM,AZ and TX we changed the culture.
Show me one time in history that a country was able to retain its culture intact after being conquered besides Iraq,Afganistain and Vietnam.
All in this country believes in equal rights yet we allow Iraq and Afganistian to treat woman and non-muslims unequally.
Our beliefs are what make us the most powerful force in the history of the world. We should export and impose those beliefs on others so that all of mankind can benefit from them. Notice I did not say religous beliefs
unseen on July 5, 2007 at 9:40 PM
Sorry to be the fly in the ointment, but does nobody else see what’s wrong with this picture? Winning Mohammedan hearts & minds? How does one win the hearts and minds of people who have neither? And once military objectives – ousting the Taliban in Kabul and Kandahar, and Saddam in Baghdad are achieved, why is it the job of the US to stabilize these countries? And more importantly, how is stabilizing those countries in our interests?
The problem prior to 9/11 was not that Afghanistan was a lawless place and therefore al Qaeda flourished – the problem was that the Taliban had de-facto control over 95% of the country, and that enabled al Qaeda to have a stable base. The problem wasn’t that there wasn’t a government – there was, and for those who had no problems with the Taliban – Saudi Arabia, UAE and Pakistan – they could have perfectly normal diplomatic relations with Afghanistan with the Taliban government, and none of their citizens in Afghanistan would have had any problems.
Therefore, the solution to this problem – ousting the Taliban, was achieved by the end of 2001. The follow up process was messed up – elections have resulted in an Islamic Afghanistan where Shariah is the law of the land – look at the Abdul Rahman case (incidentally, same story in Iraq, where Assyrian Christians are now fleeing to Syria, while the US prepares to accept 700,000 Iraqi Mohammedans.) And today, you have the Kabul regime playing footsie with the Taliban.
The proper solution, once the Taliban was scattered, was to have strengthened the various factions in Afghanistan – the Tajiks, the Hazaras, the Turkmen, the different Pashtun factions and let them war against each other. In such a situation, al Qaeda couldn’t thrive, since it needs a stable pro-Jihadi regime like it had with Mullah Omar.
Enough with this hearts and minds project already. Withdraw all foreign troops from Afghanistan, and arm all factions. If foreign troops have to be there, have Iranian and Pakistani troops there. Before you know it, they’ll be at war, and killing each other. Only thing to make sure – that both are hostile countries, and that neither gains the upper hand.
Note that in this civil conflict – Pashtun vs Tajik vs Hazara, we don’t have a dog in this fight. The only dog we have is the fight itself.
Feed that dog.
infidelpride on July 6, 2007 at 1:45 AM
The infighting between the various factions in Afghanistan after the fall of the Soviet puppet government is what allowed the Taliban to flourish and ultimately come into power. People were so tired of all the killing going on that they welcomed the stabilizing force of the Taliban. The people didn’t necessarily like the strictness of the Taliban, but they did welcome the relative peace that the Taliban was able to establish.
We have to look at the long term. Only by winning the hearts and minds of the general population will they see that there is a better alternative to the strict Islamist rule. This really is an idealogical battle and needs to be fought using techniques that influence the general population.
Snidely Whiplash on July 6, 2007 at 2:53 PM
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