What on earth are we doing in Afghanistan?

Of course the soldiers involved all know that the task is a hopeless one. Hell, the Russians had given it their best, and look what happened to them. So wrecked was Afghanistan after almost a decade of war between the Soviet-backed Kabul regime and the US-backed mujihadeen (famously including Osama bin Laden) that Afghanistan ranked 170 out of 174 in the UN's Human Development Index. Five million had fled the country, mainly to miserable refugee camps in Iran. In the aftermath, the US cynically decided not to reconstruct the country. Their ally, Pakistan, proceeded to sponsor competing warlords who further trashed the place until the Pakis grew sick of them and backed the Taliban, who took over, and insisted everything be done brutally, By The Book. Pity about the rights of women and kite enthusiasts, but at least they... [read full story]