As of Monday the Afghanistan war overtook Vietnam to become America's longest war. With 292 British and 1099 U.S. soldiers dead, not to mention the tens of thousands Afghans killed. Isn't it time we pulled out of this mess?

The big conventional armies need to pull out, if the wars must be fought then guerillas have to be fought with guerilla tactics and there has to be more of an effort to win over the hearts and minds of those who've had to live in a war zone for over 7 years.

It's time to leave when what needs to be done is done, or turns out it cannot be done.

Quote from Jordan2007 :

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Just bomb the f**king lot of em. Shame, it will never happen.
It will never end, until they give up which i don't think will happen.

I hope you have a hard time living with your own filth. what a comment

Quote from Jordan2007 :

Just bomb the f**king lot of em.

Which lot would that be?

I didn't really think about my post, was a bit bad. But i don't mean bomb the lot of them just Al-qaeda [which couldn't happen], I do pay a massive respect to the soldiers who have fought out in afghanistan as they have done a great job, I don't want this war more than most people.
I've been to about 4 of the Uk Bases as my father works behind the wire [In the ministry of defence Bases] (He's got a contract on developing the buildings in there) It's sad to see some of the soldiers who have been injured.
If we pull out now, I don't think Al-Qaeda will give up. They will keep attacking us.
It's my opinion.

[Sorry if the last post was disrespectful.]

Pull out - the Al-Qaeda will never stop . Just do what is best for the Afghans.

I love how 8 year-olds hand out their advices

They should have pulled out years ago. They'll never win this war.

Is it really even a war... i dont even know why we are fighting in half of these countries :|

Quote from oscarhardwick :

Is it really even a war... i dont even know why we are fighting in half of these countries :|

please note, this is only my own opinion.

we are facing a "WW3"

not the one that most imagined. communist russia vs the west, but a extremist group who have no country to hit back at.

i am not anti islam, but these groups hate our way of life and religion(s) and wish to remove us from the world they want.

if we pull out of afghanistan we would be handing them an ideal training ground which they could use for attacks.
the taliban would be more than happy to let bin laden and al-qaeda back, plus they would go back to executing women at public events, and stopping afghan children have any sort of education.

IMO, we need to finish what we started.

I find it rather amusing that the Brits are using "we" here

"We have to finish what we started" etc... You didn't start anything. The US did and the UK just tagged along. Everyone knows the UK is just the US' bitch And as such it's the US that should finish what they started.

Keep them there, let them finish it.

Quote from JPeace :

Since going there the UK has had 3 different PMs and USA has had 2 different Presidents.

That's neither here nor there.

Quote from Boris Lozac :

I love how 8 year-olds hand out their advices

Note how he is infact 11

Quote from JPeace :

Since going there the UK has had 3 different PMs and USA has had 2 different Presidents.

i guess thats the freedom that our way of life gives.

how long was saddam in power?
would he have ever given the people of iraq the choice in a new leader?

imo, the us and uk was right to get rid of him,(maybe it should have been done the first time) we just fecked up when it came to cleaning up the aftermath

Quote from obsolum :

I find it rather amusing that the Brits are using "we" here

"We have to finish what we started" etc... You didn't start anything. The US did and the UK just tagged along. Everyone knows the UK is just the US' bitch And as such it's the US that should finish what they started.

Sad but true, his Tonyness had essentially comitted to a war in Iraq with Bush a long time before the lead up to the invasion became known to the public. Since then its turned out to be a complete lie that Iraq had dangerously large stocks of 'weapons of mass destruction' and that government/MOD reports on the situation had been exaggerated, Blair's Labour government was dishonest to both parliament and the public, and not for the last time.

When weapons expert David Kelly tried to blow the whistle as far back as 2003 he was thrown by the MOD to be savaged by the media and the government he accused and threatened to embarrass, and then 'comitted suicide'. Even if he wasn't murdered as some suspect, by confirming his identity when they were asked the MOD essentially caused his death anyway, for telling the embarrassing truth.

So the war in Iraq at least was based on a lie, as for the war in Afghanistahn, well if you believe those 9/11 conspiracy theories...

The mess needs to be tied up somehow, but the way they are approaching it like a conventional war with regular armies and all their support does nothing more than piss off the locals and drive them further towards the Taliban, etc.

If there is one upside to the whole affair, it is that Saddam and his Ba' ath cronies are history, maybe for all the wrong reasons, but they're gone nonetheless, bunch of murderers.

Pulling everyone out would result in utter chaos, the fundamentalists would be leading everything in no time. At the moment we (our soldiers and lets not forget all the civil help) is forming a new generation of people, an education system, police forces and a basic infrastructure. If we stop now that effort is wasted, at least in my eyes . And yeah, one of my brothers-in-law was down there too for a year.

I am so glad that Schröder had the balls to say No to Bush when we were ask to join Iraq. Even if that put us on the axis of evil

Simply quit. Sometimes the only way to win is to not play.

It's clear that we are not going to bomb them into the stone age though that would be a clear and decisive victory. It's also clear that we cannot win a guerrilla war against those who play by a different set of rules in their own backyard. We can occupy with overwhelming force for another 100 years and watch the body count rise and still we won't make any headway unless total social and economic collapse is our goal.

Politically I vary depending on the subject from pure Fascism to Anarchy and am moderate on nothing. Standing in the middle of the road is the worst place to be. If you're going to have a war, do it right. If you're not going to do it right, don't do it at all. Some seem to think that just pulling out will cause collapse. That's true but whether we wither away like the Roman Empire or just walk away today, we will eventually leave and the collapse is inevitable so we might as well cut our losses sooner than later. The Middle East is and has been broken for centuries and we can't fix it.

I suppose the only way out of something that the U.S. and U.K. have gotten into so deeply is to fight their way out the other side. It would kinda mean these people have died for nothing if they all of a sudden decided to give up.. (in my opinion)

Just saw news that 39 people died from explosion in Afghanistan during a wedding.. Can someone give me clear explanation as to why Talibans do this to their own people, day in day out.. I know that this matter involves some deep sh*t, and i'm not totally into it, what exactly is the purpose of blowing up your own people..

Quote from Boris Lozac :

Just saw news that 39 people died from explosion in Afghanistan during a wedding.. Can someone give me clear explanation as to why Talibans do this to their own people, day in day out.. I know that this matter involves some deep sh*t, and i'm not totally into it, what exactly is the purpose of blowing up your own people..

I guess there are all sorts of factions within the Afghanistahni people who are at war with eachother at the same time.

Might also be to do with revenge and honour, the Taliban carry out some rather 'experimental' justice in the areas they hold.

you're not the ones getting blown up by IED's in kandahar... i think they should stay until the job is done.

Quote from bunder9999 :

i think they should stay until the job is done.

I agree, but what exactly would be job done?

The point at which the country can operate under its own democratic government, and not rely on external security?

Quote from NotAnIllusion :

The point at which the country can operate under its own democratic government, and not rely on external security?

Democracy's all very well as long as all sides are willing to live with each other. America's got democrats and republicans who just shout at each other. England's got conservatives and labour supporters who shout at each other. The muslim world of the middle east has Sunni and Shia who kill each other. Unless they're segregated, violence will ensue.

I'm sure I don't need to remind you what happened in Iran not long ago. Although foul play in the election itself can't be ruled out, look at their reaction to the result.