![]() This would have been implemented by now if it were anything less than fiendishly difficult. It is a shame that Jones fails to deliver anything but a sadly bland and anodyne set of remedies - fight corruption, act locally, and undermine the Taliban's sanctuaries in Pakistan. This is hardly news.Īfghans do not think in the language of NATO. Are we to conclude that big countries always fail to occupy Afghanistan? Or that countries with terroristic policies toward Afghans eventually get booted out? The only clear lesson from these horror tales, from the Hellenistic period to the Anglo-Afghan wars to the Soviet period, is that wars in Afghanistan are not easy. Alexander famously insisted his officers take local wives and gave his men reason to believe that most would never see Macedon again surely forcing an officer to marry an Afghan and never to go home counts as a sign of resolve and a commitment to "local" initiatives, if not of the precise modern liberal variety Jones prefers. The lessons of the past are by no means clear. Canada won, but the region has remained dangerous. Jones devotes more than a few paragraphs to Operation Medusa, the Canadian initiative that ended in the largest land battle in NATO history. Jones’s book takes seriously the war concept originally conceived: NATO coming to the defense of a member state, the U.S. ![]() Most others are halfhearted - they only build roads and schools, even if evildoers destroy roads or kill teachers. The coalition errs frequently, and members amount to just a few committed nations: U.S., U.K., Canada, the Netherlands. Graeme Wood book review (edited by Gloves): The Graveyard of Empires describes the follies of the patchwork of nations in Afg. To others, the boast demonstrated that the Americans would have to redouble their efforts. To his audience of Turks, this was cause for approval. Relative Deprivation, this unbalance needs adjusting making the “ordinary Afgh” feel better off, otherwise there will be no progress.Ī story: Turkish defense minister bragged that the Turkish contingent in ISAF had finished a tour in Afg without firing a shot. Also need to provide them with food/water etc to ensure their support. Taliban offered a harsh but fair and quick judicial system, central gov need to do the same. Need to offer Afgh something they want/need. Borders for them is just line on a map, that do not fit the real world. Lack tradition for being under on government. ![]() Makes it much harder to make a coherent structure. ![]() A state: a multitude of ethnical group, like Afgh. A nation state: one ethnical group=1 state (like FR, GM and NO) The tribal leaders/ each valley has its leaders. Lack of tradition for a central government in Afgh. Afghanistan a wicked problem Difficult/impossible to solve because of incomplete info and when you find one part of the answer/solve a part of it will create another one forcing a growth of the wicked problem. ![]()
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