We Are Not The Soviets ... A Must Read Commentary From A Canadian Colonel Who Has Served in Afghanistan

Afghan President Karzai And Canadian Prime Minister Harper

From The Globe And Mail:

The latest trend in political punditry with respect to Afghanistan focuses on its "historically unconquerable" nature - highlighted by a long list of unsuccessful foreign efforts paraded in newspaper columns across the nation. The most compelling of these is the attempt to draw hard and fast conclusions from the Soviet Union's 1979 invasion that ended with its ignominious withdrawal a decade later.

The first, and most egregious, error in this approach is to refer to everything the West is doing in Afghanistan as a foreign invasion, replete with the imposition of foreign ideas, control and values. The simple truth is that Afghanistan enjoyed, in both presidential and parliamentary elections, a free and uncorrupt vote that was spared the violence and intimidation that the poor citizens of Zimbabwe and Myanmar (to name a couple) can only dream of. That is an unassailable difference, no matter how pundits might wish to reconstruct history.

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My Comment: I have two cousins who served as paratroopers in the Soviet Army in Afghanistan. They both served two tours, being witness to some heavy fighting. I asked them a few months ago on what did they think would be the military outcome/situation for Canadian and their fellow Nato troops in Afghanistan.

They concurred with the above Canadian Colonel's commentary on his experiences in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan and Nato cannot be compared to the Afghanistan war with Soviet soldiers twenty years ago. Tactics, strategy, training, equipment, intelligence, the political and the moral will to win, Afghan support, etc. ..... these assets were never in favor for the Soviet Army. Counter Insurgency methods are also vastly superior to what the Soviets tried to do .... in addition, Nato and Canadian forces enjoy tremendous popular support within Afghanistan itself.

The Taliban and their Pakistani allies are the drug lords, the executioners of innocents, the bomb makers that devastate lives, and the gang that intimidates those who do not support them. The group that represents the mentality of the Soviet Army from the past is not Nato .... but the Taliban themselves.