Jim Farmelant wrote:
>
>
> I also don't think that the US will
> succeed in pacifying Afghanistan.
> If the Soviets couldn't do it,
> and the Brits at the height of their empire
> couldn't do it,
> why should anyone expect
> the Americans to do any better?
I of course hope that this is correct.
There is one difference, however, between the Soviet & the U.S. occupations. The present Afghan resistance seems to be pretty much on their own. (Though I would be interested if anyone knows where they are getting their arms.) The resistance to the Soviet Union was backed (and supplied) by an external power, the U.S.
As far as I know, no guerrilla movement has ever won without a powerful external supporter. (Cuba is an excception, but the U.S. waited too long to intervene actively ther.)
Carrol