Afghanistan is not Vietnam [View All]

[NJmaverick]

This article from the Christian Science Monitor is quite compelling and offers up an interesting and different historical perspective. It's worth reading the entire article, but here are some highlights.

Jackson, Miss. – Contrary to recent popular comparisons, Afghanistan is not Vietnam.
But it is a lot like Albania.
About 70 years ago, Albania – a small, mountainous country in the Balkans, was still populated by numerous “fanatical” warrior tribesmen. During World War II, Germany occupied this land. Given the strategic importance of the Balkans, the Allies, led by the British, sent in covert operatives to try to organize an indigenous Albanian resistance.
These Allied operatives were unable to think like tribal warriors and that is why they failed. If President Obama learns from Britain’s mistakes and meets Afghan warriors on their terms, the United States can end the war and win the peace in Afghanistan, honorably.

SNIP

Obama was right to open the door to reconciliation midway through his West Point speech last month. If the US is to have any hope of success in Afghanistan, the strategy on the ground must be to broker peace between individuals, families, and tribes. And most important, make peace with the relatives of those the US has inadvertently killed, who are otherwise honor-bound to seek vengeance.
Echoes of tribal culture persist in the high mountains of North Albania, but today, the country is poised to join the European Union. Even so, if the US is to win in Afghanistan, we must think like an Albanian warrior of yesteryear. We must kill our enemies or be prepared to reconcile with them. There can be no middle ground.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20100108/cm_csm/272676;_ylt=AskRUi3_iIqa4.H0YiSgriv9wxIF;_ylu=X3oDMTJjZTdvZGgyBGFzc2V0A2NzbS8yMDEwMDEwOC8yNzI2NzYEcG9zAzMEc2VjA3luX2FydGljbGVfc3VtbWFyeV9saXN0BHNsawNhZmdoYW5pc3Rhbmk-