Quote:He has now got some advice from an unexpected quarter - the Taliban. The hard-line Islamic group tagged him on his medium of choice, Twitter, urging him to heed their thoughts on this fraught issue.

"We have noticed that you have understood the errors of your predecessors," says the official press release from the insurgent organisation, "and have resolved to thoroughly rethink your new strategy in Afghanistan".

It warns him not to listen to what it calls the "warmongering congressmen and generals", and not to "protract the war". Not surprisingly, the Taliban's advice is that the wise solution would be "a complete withdrawal".

"On the one hand, this strategy will truly deliver American troops from harm's way," the insurgents explain, "and on the other, it will bring to an end an inherited war by rectifying the mistakes of former American officials".

The 16-year US military presence had made Afghanistan less stable and more corrupt, the Taliban added.

"American youth are not born to be killed in the deserts and mountains of Afghanistan in order to establish the writ of thieves and corrupt officials," says the missive.

It warns against the use of private military contractors - an option which has been discussed by senior White House advisers - and urges Mr Trump to reflect on history as he decides his next move, asking how the US can achieve a stable presence "in a land where every child is raised with a spirit of vengeance".

Perhaps more surprising is an appeal to Mr Trump's sense of loyalty to a people who have "done you the biggest favour internationally" by rescuing the world from "the Red Communist Plague".

The letter assures Mr Trump that the Afghan people "have no ill-intention towards the Americans", but warns that they are good at defeating those who "violate their sanctums".

This is, by Taliban standards, a long and cogent intervention into the ongoing debate on American policy in Afghanistan. Whether Mr Trump will listen to these arguments is, of course, an open question.

(08-15-2017 06:54 PM)Godzilla Wrote:  Trumps friends:
conservatives
Saudi Arabia
Neo-Nazis
Taliban

Great company you guys keep

(08-15-2017 06:54 PM)Godzilla Wrote:  Trumps friends:
conservatives
Saudi Arabia
Neo-Nazis
Taliban

Great company you guys keep

(08-15-2017 08:55 PM)EverRespect Wrote:  

(08-15-2017 06:54 PM)Godzilla Wrote:  Trumps friends:
conservatives
Saudi Arabia
Neo-Nazis
Taliban

Great company you guys keep

You forgot Vladimir Putin. So is Trump Russia finally done now?

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

(08-15-2017 08:55 PM)EverRespect Wrote:  

(08-15-2017 06:54 PM)Godzilla Wrote:  Trumps friends:
conservatives
Saudi Arabia
Neo-Nazis
Taliban

Great company you guys keep

You forgot Vladimir Putin. So is Trump Russia finally done now?

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

(08-16-2017 07:20 AM)ArmyBlazer Wrote:  That place is known as the graveyard of empires for a reason. The Afghans have outlasted the Greeks under Alexander the Great, the British twice, and the Russians.

Here's a fun random fact. I was a sophomore in high school when the war began. I'll be 32 in a couple months...

(08-16-2017 08:27 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  We went in for good reason but "limited war" is always going to be the wrong approach. If war is the answer, then go all-out to win from the start. If going all-out to win is not justified, then it's a matter for diplomacy, not war. There simply is no situation where limited war will yield a better answer than all-out war or diplomacy.

We've screwed around with the wrong approach ever since, and in the process almost certainly done more harm than good. It is time to get out and get over it. And resolve never to fight another war that we don't intend to win.

While we are at it, do the same for Iraq and Syria.

(08-16-2017 04:49 PM)TigerBlue4Ever Wrote:  

(08-16-2017 08:27 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  We went in for good reason but "limited war" is always going to be the wrong approach. If war is the answer, then go all-out to win from the start. If going all-out to win is not justified, then it's a matter for diplomacy, not war. There simply is no situation where limited war will yield a better answer than all-out war or diplomacy.
We've screwed around with the wrong approach ever since, and in the process almost certainly done more harm than good. It is time to get out and get over it. And resolve never to fight another war that we don't intend to win.
While we are at it, do the same for Iraq and Syria.

Hit them hard, hit them fast and break away clean.

(08-15-2017 08:55 PM)EverRespect Wrote:  

(08-15-2017 06:54 PM)Godzilla Wrote:  Trumps friends:
conservatives
Saudi Arabia
Neo-Nazis
Taliban

Great company you guys keep

You forgot Vladimir Putin. So is Trump Russia finally done now?

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

(08-16-2017 04:59 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(08-16-2017 04:49 PM)TigerBlue4Ever Wrote:  

(08-16-2017 08:27 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  We went in for good reason but "limited war" is always going to be the wrong approach. If war is the answer, then go all-out to win from the start. If going all-out to win is not justified, then it's a matter for diplomacy, not war. There simply is no situation where limited war will yield a better answer than all-out war or diplomacy.
We've screwed around with the wrong approach ever since, and in the process almost certainly done more harm than good. It is time to get out and get over it. And resolve never to fight another war that we don't intend to win.
While we are at it, do the same for Iraq and Syria.

Hit them hard, hit them fast and break away clean.

Or stay out.

(08-16-2017 07:20 AM)ArmyBlazer Wrote:  That place is known as the graveyard of empires for a reason. The Afghans have outlasted the Greeks under Alexander the Great, the British twice, and the Russians.

Here's a fun random fact. I was a sophomore in high school when the war began. I'll be 32 in a couple months...