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Afghaniscrewed: How I Spent My Fall Vacation

A A A Comments (6) By P.J. Tobia Wednesday, Mar 25 2009

...continued from page 4

Sgt. Lyke looked down at his plate in silence. "That's a political question, sir. I can't get into that," he said.

"No," I pressed. "It's a strategic question. Why are we here?"

Rafal Gerszak

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He kept looking at his food. Then, using the irrefutable logic of a soldier, he raised his head and said, "I'm here because I was told to be here."

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prxs 04/28/2009 12:42:00 PM

"The problem with Afghanistan is the Afghans"?? Hands down the most offensively under-researched, overblown article on Afghanistan that I've ever read. Five pages to recount: one actual witnessed experience; a recap of a standard Army press briefing; one interview with one Afghan; a whole lot of rumours, myths and hearsay, some even borrowed from another journalist. Even the rawest NGO worker manages to read a few policy papers or situation reports before they parachute into a new country - couldn't you bother to do the same before foisting your interpretation on us? Hey, you even had some potentially interesting threads there that didn't get picked up: could it be that while the US soldiers are eating their bountiful $17/plate KBR meals, and the ANA soldiers are making about the same amount of money per week (but are expected to feed themselves and their families 21 times with that same amount), and the children on the road to Bagram are begging for scraps, that perhaps spending a little less money on ice-cream sundaes and a little more money on wells and general welfare might ease local resentment of the US military just a bit?

defundthewar 04/07/2009 2:02:00 PM

We are in Afghanistan to build a pipeline under it. Period. More accurately, the Carlyle Group, big oil and construction are in Afghanistan to build a pipeline under it. The little matter of American kids killed there, or turning that nation into a garbage dump of spent weapons isn't a blip on the screen of those who would profit from the pipeline. It was planned long ago, but the Taliban was in the way. 9/11 was merely an excuse to invade. Different nations have tried to conquer and colonize Afghanistan since the days of Alexander the Great. Most recent to get its ass kicked there was the old Soviet Union. Gosh, President Obama, do you ever get the feeling we're not wanted there, and that you can't win there... whatever winning means at the moment? Ya think?

Clive 03/31/2009 3:44:00 AM

It seems the US Army needs to read "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu and put his ideas into action. Then you'd see some difference. (Sun Tzu apparently trained the emperor's concubines instead of the army, as a demo. He trained them three times and they still couldn't do the drill, so then he executed one of them. They then did the drill perfectly.)

Mike 03/30/2009 10:19:00 PM

That dude on the front cover looks exactly like me

Bill 03/27/2009 10:36:00 PM

With due respect, and as an anti-war combat veteran (many years on now), I wonder how much perspective you got talking to: "...are near the end of their deployment in Afghanistan, where they work office jobs, supply details, and serve long nights on guard duty. The older man is an Army intelligence analyst. His job is to read reports on everything from enemy movements to the weather and pass it up the chain of command. But on this night, he speaks of the sobering difficulty of bringing peace to this land." Did you get into the field? The Taliban and Al Queda might well have shot you merely for being dressed in a western style or being with men who were not blood relatives. Afgahnistan has never been successfully conqured, Afganistan never posed a threat as a government to us, yet we now own the war. To complain about corruption vs. the subjuction of women and the murder of apostates is akin to complaining about an insect bit to a cancer victim. Without opining about the merits of the invasion, you seem to merely have presented us with a personal diary of your vacation.

nmjdu 03/26/2009 8:20:00 PM

Dear Mr. Tobia I read your article in full. Fluff. You did not need to travel to Afginistan to write this. The council on foreign relations could educate you. Read Brezinski's book. I wish the voice would update itself and write within its tradition of excellent investigative journalism. No wonder the paper is free. nmjdu

Afghaniscrewed: How I Spent My Fall Vacation

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