A German brigadier general said troops with a "western philosophy" and a will not to die would have "little chance against men who are willing to give their lives in a fight".

[url]http://www.portal.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/09/24/wgerm24.xml[/url]

I'd say things have gone downhill a little from the days of Ludendorff and Guderian.  Its kind of a shame to see such a fine military tradition go down the shitter, although I imagine the French and Russians are not all that upset about it.

Not that this is going to be a cakewalk, but the Western World has a pretty solid history of kicking tail in that part of the world since the decline of the Ottomons (although the Afghanis have won 2 out of 3).

When it comes to Afghanistan, we don't have much of a history as westerners of kicking tail at all... The Kyber Pass is infamous for f*ucking big armies up the arse.  Afghanistan gave the brits a hell of a time, and of course, we all know that the Reds didn't have much fun there either.

This one definitely won't be a "cake walk" and no matter how well we plan and train, there will be folks coming home in bags... Just look at the terrain alone... a guerilla fighters wet dream!  Our enemy knows the land well, and are hardened veterans... Thank the Lord that we still have some snake eaters in our ranks... if only there were more.

Well, without reading it and strictly on the point you posted, it is hard to win a war against people willing to die.

In armed combat, the goal is to kill your enemy and stay alive.  If your enemy only cares about killing you and doesn't care if he dies too, then he's a hard man to defend yourself against.  Not impossible, but hard.  I'm not sure how large the German army is.

Or, like my father always said "Never get into a fist fight with an ugly man.  He's got nothing to lose." [:)]

God Bless Texas

"Never get into a fist fight with an ugly man... He's got nothing to lose."

That is classic... I'm going to have to commit that one to memory.  Haha

Anyone remember the Iraqi soldiers, on their knees, crying, kissing the boots of their American Conquerors?
I do.

Perhaps, since they are so willing, accomodating their desire to die may make the job easier.....banzai

a quote from a paratrooper fighting at Corregidor: "The enemy fought using banzai charges. These were suicidal charges by from one to maybe 24 Japanese, intended to inflict as
much damage to life and property as possible without regard to their own personal safety. "When you heard 'Banzai! Banzai!'
the earth shook--someone was going to die right now."

Many countries teach their soldiers to die for their country.
The US Military is taught to live and provide assistance.  (To those taught to die.)

I think we are on the right track here....  What needs to be done is a few to many Major Military opperations that provide some SHOCK factor.  With some luck, this will shake some of the resolve of the repressed population of Afganastan and when the western money dries up and they are starving they may be MUCH less willing to fight....

The last thing I think we want to do is invade a country like this while the population is fresh....  In the Persian Gulf we pounded Iraq and starved them out.  When it came time for a fight they lacked the resolve needed....

Even such, with a developing nation as Afganastan, it will be very tough to destroy a government that isn't all that well developed in the first place.  All you end up with is more "freedom fighters" that can hide and attack at their advantage.  That would not be good for us!

Umm, people Britain fought Afghanistan in the 19th Century when every soldier had a 6 Foot Long Bolt Action Rifle with 5 Rounds of ammo. Now, the Russians fought in a more modern era. But, they still fought in the Pre-Smart Bomb, Night Vision, etc. era. We have Smart Bombs Russians didn't. We have night vision, Russians didn't. We have air power, Russians didn't (Because of Stingers.) We have allies, again the Russians didn't.

Both had to fight their wars entirely on the ground. We will fight in the air and ground. We will bomb the hell out of 'em forever like we did Iraq, then we will come in with ground troops and sweep up whatever's left.

Or it could be the ugly man got that way because he's had his face punched in so many times because he's a poor fighter.