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There is zero chance of "success" in Afghanistan. How would one measure "success"? It is measured in dollars and cents (not 'sense') for those who provide the military industrial complex with the tools of war.
The last good Republican President, Dwight David Eisenhower, presciently predicted what has been the status quo in this country since Pres. Ronald Reagan was in charge. It has gone from bad to worse since he was President.
Through the interpreter, I asked the police captain where the attack had originated, and he pointed to the side of a nearby mountain. “What are your normal procedures in situations like these?” I asked. “Do you form up a squad and go after them? Do you periodically send out harassing patrols? What do you do?” As the interpreter conveyed my questions, the captain’s head wheeled around, looking first at the interpreter and turning to me with an incredulous expression. Then he laughed.
“No! We don’t go after them,” he said. “That would be dangerous!”
According to the cavalry troopers, the Afghan policemen rarely leave the cover of the checkpoints. In that part of the province, the Taliban literally run free.