cochransintexas on October 19, 2007 at 11:46 AM

Thank you for your service, good luck and stay safe!

1. The Afghanis have been fighting eachother nonstop for over thee decades – they’re a little burned out on the whole bloodshed thing.

2. Afghanistan was at rock-bottom when we invaded – anything we provided was an improvement over nothing.

3. Perhaps the most important – promises made vs promises kept. The fact is we haven’t delivered on our promises made to the Iraqi’s. While we were initially greeted as liberators, we managed to screw the pooch pretty bad. We didn’t focus on securing the population until this year, we haven’t provided the reconstruction and economic benefits we said we would when we would, even basic things like electricity are not functioning properly after 4 years. And then there is the ethnic cleansing, etc. etc. etc.

It’s no accident the arab asian people turn out like they do and we turn out like we do. It starts at the top. We will eventually cut that head off if they don’t get nukes and go for broke first. Ours are caring folks who you can’t help but root for. Could you see the Russians trying to succeed with benevolency and ruthlessness? Not possible because their benevolency gene is defective.

Kandahar
Come for the jihad
Stay for Waladi World

Great news!

Exit question: Why are Afghans relatively comfortable with occupation while Iraqis aren’t?

Baghdad was the seat of the Caliph and having foreign troops stationed there is blasphemy.

Also Shiites want to assert their numerical supremacy and wipe out the Sunnis.

I’m not surprised the Afghans are jazzed about NATO assistance, both infrastructure & military in any case, I think it is understood those forces are trying to help maintain & build stability in the country.

Danged public school edukation!

I hope and pray every night that it does not only for my sake because I’m in Iraq, but for the good people in these countries that want peace.

Is it simply some cultural difference we can’t discern or is it a reaction to the distinction between the type of brutality favored by Saddam vis-a-vis the Taliban?

Now that is a REAL question. It could be asked not only of Middle Eastern countries but also those in say Asia which labor under brutal regimes at times but also suffer at the hands of brutal murderers like Pol Pot.
Look at North Korea which bends to the will of the Kims’ but I am not so sure how they would react if the Islamo fascists started a reign of terror on their soil.
The Russians tolerated it under Stalin.
So state sponsored terrorism of a countries citizens has a better chance of succeeding then that doled out by free lancers?
Yeah let give the Palestinians a state.
Somebody could do a doctorate thesis around that question.

Very simple. When push comes to shove, a LOT of the population of any culture will take security over Freedom.

Add in self rule? and an occupying army that is GIVING you freedom?

Face it… if you look at Japan, France, Korea, Germany, and Italy, American has a pretty darn good track record of NOT taking over for the long term.

Bingo, read any record of Taliban rule and even given the context of bad rule in that nation, they really were the worst.