Rhymes with war

Twenty years ago, stories were common about drunken USSR conscript soldiers in Afghanistan prior to their defeat. Afghanistan has a long history of defeating armies from far off lands on long and ill defined missions. In 2001 a popular movie in Kabul which played to packed crowds was a tale about the mojahedin fighters defeating drunken Russian soldiers in the mountains of the Panjshir valley.

History doesn’t repeat itself but it does have a tendency to rhyme. All courses can be altered and nothing is certain, to state the obvious, but the war in Afghanistan is rhyming historically as it enters in eighth year and a most deadly spell for US and NATO forces. In Afghanistan now as in Vietnam we are supporting a government lead by a president with questionable support from the population that controls only the Capitol and small patches of the country. US and NATO troops on a long mission with no clear end point are surrounded by a potentially hostile populace and suffer the stress.
James Galloway in an article about the Afghan war recalling the Powell doctrine writes the national treasure we’ve invested in that effort, has propped up an ineffective and corrupt Kabul regime. Its only economic success has been the restoration of the opium trade. Afghanistan is now the world’s leading producer of opium and heroin, whereas under the Taliban government that was a death penalty offense.
In early September after a bombing raid (a precision raid) by NATO forces killed 125 civilians it was reported that

….The head of the international forces in Afghanistan has banned alcohol at its headquarters after troops were found to be too drunk or hung-over to respond quickly to news of a deadly air strike.
A group of Macedonian guards were sent home this year because they were discovered drunk on duty, while protecting the back gate.
The problem became so acute that military police started breathalysing drivers and pedestrians around the base.

The Vermont National Guard will soon deploy approximately 1,500 troops to Afghanistan on a mission that has evolved from training and mentoring into potentially broader security tasks. Maj. Gen. Michael Dubie,head of the Vermont National Guard said clarity on what the troops will be doing "hasn't improved much in the last couple days." "It's still changing. The reorganization of some structures in Afghanistan is still being worked out,"
Also this past Thursday the president of Macedonia was in Vermont to announce joint training of 80 troops with the Vermont National Guard.

posted also on Green Mountain Daily