Why complaining that dogs balk? That's what dogs do. The way the Taliban fight is the result of the asymmetrical setting of the war, and that the Taliban do not subscribe to the Hague Land Warfare Convention. Any army facing an enemy not accepting these rules while accepting them for itself necessarily will find itself into trouble - for the assumed weaker side that is the whole idea behind waging asymmetrical warfare, by doing so it compensates its own deficits in strength and technology. One could even say to bring the enemy into trouble is the whole idea behind warfare in general, else you would not shoot at him.
But as in Iraq, the blame from my side goes at incompetent, hopelessly reality-disconnected political leaders who deny realities that they do not want and expose their troops to the risks of war over politically formulated objectives that are in total denial of what realistically could ever be acchieved.
I personally argue as usual: if you are at war, go for the enemy's throat, and do not let the presence of any unhappy bystander distract you from your target. That is war. It's not a picnic in the woods. It'S always injust to those being in the wrong place, at the wrong time. Now there the West is in Afghanistan. Oh so humane the intention, oh so idealistic the claims, oh so wonderful the plans. What has been acchieved? The enemy wins. What has been rebuilt temporarily, will get lost. It will have lived a short life only. Even more, our own leaders now contemplate the need to upvalue the enemy in his political credibility, and negotiate with this primitive rat pack on same eye level with us. They will hang children in the Kabul arena again, they will again supress women with medieval brutality, they will again help to export the ideologic poison of Islam to other conflicts and countries to help the Islamic jihad. Our own guys will return with bad memories on mind, many of them traumatised, some being dead, but we can always comfort ourselves with that we played by the rules, and that we had good intentions, and the most precious phrase of all: "
at least we have tried".
That'S the self-excusing of loosers, gentlemen.
Next thing we will need to hear is politicians explaining us why we were so victorious in Afghanistan, and why it is reasonable to have installed the enemy in place, and why it all has to be seen as a great acchievement. Oh, and many will claim they are very optimistic for the future, that one always catches some voters' applaus en passant. And finally, my favourite: Karzai is our friend, Afghanistan is a great culture, and Pakistan is our ally.
Next time you go to war, pick you war more wisely, maybe, and when going in, do so by opening all gates to hell inside your mind. If you are not willing to do that, then maybe it is a stupid idea to go to war.
It may be a comic movie, but Quentin Tarrantino said it best in Kill Bill 1, and that scene remineded me of the teachings I received from my own mentor, who also was a Japanese and came from a family of Samurai, it could have been his own very words:
"For those regarded as warriors, when engaged in combat, the vanquishing of thine enemy can be the warrior's only concern. Suppress all human emotion and compassion. Kill whoever stands in thy way, even if that be Lord God or Buddha himself. This truth lies at the heart of the art of combat."
Ever draw your sword only when you intend to kill. Never put it back into the sheath without blood on it. That'S why I hate parades.