quote:

Originally posted by XaNaX My point was that if 500 Stinger missiles was what enabled that group of rebels to defeat the Soviet army then maybe the Soviet army wasn't all it was cracked up to be. The Soviets were in Afghanistan for almost 10 years right? Too bad they couldn't get done in all that time what the USAF and a few US special forces groups did in a few months.

I think the situation is poorly analysed.

The USAF and the US special forces were clearly PART of the reason the area was cleared quickly but they had help from almost every other western country (even after the USAF decided to bomb Canadian troops).

And then there is the tiny sticking point that it has now been 6 years since the invasion and the resistance has not ended. The mission in Afghanistan is not acomplished. Weekly military casualties are still normal in the country, I think 6 Canadians died last week.

It is still possible that the US, and NATO will be driven out of Afghanistan and possibly in a shorter time frame then the Soviets. I think 2008 or 2009 are the years that Canadian politicians are talking of troop withdrawal. That would be a loss in 8 years to the Soviet 10.

quote:

Originally posted by atbell I think the situation is poorly analysed. The USAF and the US special forces were clearly PART of the reason the area was cleared quickly but they had help from almost every other western country (even after the USAF decided to bomb Canadian troops). And then there is the tiny sticking point that it has now been 6 years since the invasion and the resistance has not ended. The mission in Afghanistan is not acomplished. Weekly military casualties are still normal in the country, I think 6 Canadians died last week. It is still possible that the US, and NATO will be driven out of Afghanistan and possibly in a shorter time frame then the Soviets. I think 2008 or 2009 are the years that Canadian politicians are talking of troop withdrawal. That would be a loss in 8 years to the Soviet 10.

The US-led coalition will be in Afghanistan longer than Soviets were ... mainly because there's no country like former Soviet Union to well equip and arm the insurgency to fork up the American forces ;-)

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