What Losing Looks Like

America is on 'the horns of the DeLeon', again!  Afghanistan, that 'burning bush upon a hill' is once again in peril of going to the south side.  The Taliban are resurgent and the enrollment figures for ISIS (Hindu Kush) are 'bustin' out all over'. The poor bashi-bazouks of the army America has drilled trained, equipped and taught to understand and use basic NATO military terminology ("motherfucker")  are , either, dying in droves, deserting to the enema, or busily-buggering babies while 'stoned out of their gourd' and dreaming-up green-on-green attacks.  The Afghan government is impotent to stop any of it.

So what is America to do for, you see,  a withdrawal will create a vacuum and all the suction required to draw other forces into Afghanistan - the kind of forces that don't like America and that should not be allowed to benefit from 18 years of the best investments Bennie Franklins could buy.

The single greatest present danger of losing Afghanistan to somebody else, comes from Iran - the 'base' used by Alexander the Great for one of the few 'successful' invasions. And they hate America just on principle. Read, and moan gently.

We KNOW who ya are, and we SAW what you done.

The invasion rowboats will be built in Teheran

Putin's always in the wings somewhere. In fact our Afghan adventure may be turning into Russkie 'payback' for all the help we gave the Jihadis when they were setting up to eject the Russians.

American guns blood and treasure, Putin gets the gravy

Hey Omar! Where'd you get that kalashikova?

Pakistan has been number one with the bullet since Lord Curzon drew his line through the Pashtunwali. We forget that Britain's restive 'northwest frontier' was most of northern Pakistan and southern Afghanistan.   Neither one of those places were pleased to entertain the Grand Poobah or their 'civilizing'  Mem Sahibs.   They haven'r modernized a bit - except in the arms department.

The India-Pakistan conflation adds to the steaming pile of ca-ca lying around to be stepped-in in Afghanistan.  That little 'tiff ' they're having over Kashmir is something the Afghans don't mind poking - to remind both sides that they are important. And India's northern border is close enough to be affected by Afghanistan if they wanted to make trouble. India seems intent in nose-poking into Afghanistan to annoy the Paks,  but shouldn't want to to get too closely involved.

We KNOW what you done.

Nailing the Paks to Afghanistan

And then there are those opportunist Chinamen,  eyeing some 'tourist hotels' in the Hindu Kush and a east-west transportation artery through mountains flattened at US taxpayer expense.

The Yellow Peril and the silk rode west - rock and roll like you've never seen

Aside from the increasingly obvious failure to win (this week the Taliban and ISIS teamed-up to wipe out one of our 'home-defense militia' units.  - whoever is causing it, there seems to be the growing sentiment that there isn't much except continued waste left in it for the USA. Trump however points out the minerals - lots of beautiful minerals, that the US should take with them when, or before,  they shut out the lights.

So, what to do?  Stay in let the ulcer weep?  Double down again in hope of getting it right?  Leave and shut everything down?   There has to be some reason to stay - central Asia is the 'America' of tomorrow.

They have the most beautiful minerals - rubies and pearls and lap dancing ladies

One innovative way is to declare a victory and have the Afghans install a purely defensive force of 'contractors' tasked with winning the insurgency without all the hooplah of Geneva conventions and potential war crimes charges.  Shy anything up to a nuclear strike, Erik Prince and the military marketplace will provide canned security for what's hoped to be a 'reasonable' (viz more waste) price. He could be America's last poke at a vict'ry parade.

Private Armies? Private Air Forces! Go USA!