Roadside bomb kills 6 British troops in southern Afghanistan

[GentlemanJim]

Well, I was just not going to participate anymore, it just wasn't worth the time and effort, but you had to come up with this little beauty.

If there is an easy answer to the whole Afghan mess, one which will actually result in the lives of the majority of its long-suffering inhabitants being improved, could you tell us what that answer is?

Oh, is that why we are there, to improve the lives of its long-suffering inhabitants? Is that why we went in there! Thanks for clarifying that. Must let the troops know that one. God and there was me thinking we were after Osama, his Afghan supported training camps and the war on terror. I am such a dumb ass.

Perhaps we should be in Zimbabwe or Uganda, or should have been in Rawanda, mmmm but if we did/had despite improving and saving the lives of millions, there would be no political or economic advantage, so we didn't bother.

The easy answer is pull out, it is non of our business. The easy answer is we should never have been there. The easy answer then would be that 404 British troops would not have died there (and do you have any idea how many have been injured and/or lost limbs?).

Why don't we quit whilst you are ahead eh!

[koheesti]

10+ years ago I was for going after bin Laden and invading Afghanistan if they tried to protect him. Now, bin Laden is officially dead, and we have spent a decade fighting, dying, spending billions/trillions and - yes - trying to help the Afghans build a functioning country to the benefit of the local population and to our benefit in that they can no longer be a safe haven for terrorists. A decade is long enough. If the people there don't want it badly enough to help more against the Taliban, then let's leave. Their loss. Leave, but make it clear to the world that we are leaving the door open in case we feel it's in our national security interest (or if the President at the time wakes up on the wrong side of the bed) to go in there and kill a bunch of people and level vast areas of the country. Works for me.

[folium]

Well, I was just not going to participate anymore, it just wasn't worth the time and effort, but you had to come up with this little beauty.

If there is an easy answer to the whole Afghan mess, one which will actually result in the lives of the majority of its long-suffering inhabitants being improved, could you tell us what that answer is?

Oh, is that why we are there, to improve the lives of its long-suffering inhabitants? Is that why we went in there! Thanks for clarifying that. Must let the troops know that one. God and there was me thinking we were after Osama, his Afghan supported training camps and the war on terror. I am such a dumb ass.

Perhaps we should be in Zimbabwe or Uganda, or should have been in Rawanda, mmmm but if we did/had despite improving and saving the lives of millions, there would be no political or economic advantage, so we didn't bother.

The easy answer is pull out, it is non of our business. The easy answer is we should never have been there. The easy answer then would be that 404 British troops would not have died there (and do you have any idea how many have been injured and/or lost limbs?).

Why don't we quit whilst you are ahead eh!

Would be helpful if you could actually read what I write.

Firstly I did not pick up you alter-ego "Thom" for the Taliban defending their country. He/you did not seem to understand the meaning of the word insurgent and why most unbiased people use that term when referring to the Taliban.

On a related note you seem so fixated on the foreign presence that you overlook the fact that the Taliban kill far more Afghans than foreigners, funny way to defend "your country". In 2011 77% of the 3021 civilian dead were killed by the Taliban. See UNAMA report for 2011:

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/world/20120204_afghan_civilians_deaths.pdf

On your latest misreading/misinterpretation you now claim that bringing some form of long term stability was why the ISAF forces went into Afghanistan. No, as I said what is important now is a way of resolving the mess created by the 11 years of conflict via some settlement that does not drop the Afghan population back into the terror and nightmares of the civil war and Taliban regime of the 1990's up till 2001. That's the least we can do now at this stage.

If you want a breakdown of total Brit casualty figures there are several easy to access sources, try this one:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2009/sep/17/afghanistan-casualties-dead-wounded-british-data

[Steely Dan]

10+ years ago I was for going after bin Laden and invading Afghanistan if they tried to protect him. Now, bin Laden is officially dead, and we have spent a decade fighting, dying, spending billions/trillions and - yes - trying to help the Afghans build a functioning country to the benefit of the local population and to our benefit in that they can no longer be a safe haven for terrorists. A decade is long enough. If the people there don't want it badly enough to help more against the Taliban, then let's leave. Their loss. Leave, but make it clear to the world that we are leaving the door open in case we feel it's in our national security interest (or if the President at the time wakes up on the wrong side of the bed) to go in there and kill a bunch of people and level vast areas of the country. Works for me.

Strictly speaking I suppose Karzai is far more legitimate than the Taliban and probably a trifle more moderate too. But everything is relative and it's delusional not to conclude that there is far greater distance between ourselves and the Afghan regime than there is between said regime and the Taliban.

http://www.cafemom.com/group/99198/forums/read/16129575/_It_is_the_Shariah_law_of_ALL_Muslims_and_ALL_Afghans_This_is_why_Shariah_law_can_stay_out_of_the_U_

Behold this is democracy primitives style and certainly not worth fighting for. I agree we should get out, but lets have a quid pro quo and not invite an influx of primitives to undermine our own Countries and furthermore reserve the right to return and bomb the hell out of any group that causes trouble outside their own borders.