VICE .....Video of Afgan and our troops Nation Building....Sad

The title of the Video is: This Is What Winning Looks Like - Full Length

If someone knows how to post the video please do otherwise follow the link and "Welcome to Afghanistan"! Unless you are there no one can understand the hardships and "bite your tongue" moments these guys have to go through. To help a new Nation you have to have something to work with and I do not see much to work with in Afganistan even after all the money, time and blood the U.S. has poured into the effort.

www.vice.com...

Originally posted by 727Sky
I do not see much to work with in Afganistan even after all the money, time and blood the U.S. has poured into the effort.

Just a Little bit of Context, to Add to your Dilemma.

Afganistan Did Not Ask For Any Help..... They were Invaded.

And the "blood" you Mentioned, Should have Read .. "Blood Shed".

CIA had to get the opium production at peak again, what else would you expect them to do?


Gotta keep the opium flowing.


btw thanks for the linkage, watching this now.

BBut what about all the money from the pipeline we are building?

Absolutely brilliant documentary.

I've read Ben Anderson's book about the Afghan conflict 'No Worse Enemy' and found him to be the very best of what I regard as a war journalist.

For those out there who may have lost faith in modern day reportage, let me tell you something, Mr Anderson offers no quarter.

Considering I posted 7 minutes ago and the video is considerably longer than that I will assume you did not watch the Vice Video and have nothing to add to the circumstances the troops find themselves in. We all know about the pipeline, the mineral wealth, Opium, and many other reasons the troops were sent there. Agree or disagree is everyone's prerogative; try bringing something new to the table.

These guys are having to turn a blind eye to Child molesters who are Afgan commanders, theft of anything not tied down, corruption, while all the time not knowing if someone they are ordered to help is going to turn a gun on them. This is a messed up mission.... IMO when we do finally pull out I doubt the whole thing will hang together for a year if not less.

reply to post by seabhac-rua


If the book is half as good as the video I need to read it. Thanks

Here's some more of the wonders the US has worked in Afghanistan....all paid for by the US taxpayer...whose numbers are dwindling because we have no jobs because our government spends all our money on wars to make the world a better place.

If you look at only one story about the Afghan War this year, make it this one. An explosive Congressional investigation revealed horrific new details this week about a U.S. funded military hospital in Afghanistan that kept patients in “Auschwitz-like” conditions. Warning: Graphic images.

www.buzzfeed.com...

reply to post by 727Sky


I highly recommend his book.

I'm subscribed to Vice's youtube channel, and I have been eagerly awaiting this documentary.

There is a book about the Vietnam conflict by a journalist named Jack Laurence titled 'The Cat from Hue' which I also highly recommend, the similarities between the two conflicts in terms of a complete military cognitive dysfunction are astounding.

reply to post by Maluhia


Savages treating Savages and I would not call them Doctors or nurses but murders?..... either way that is not something that should be condoned. No wonder so many troops come back and are messed up. Thanks for the additional info.

Watched the whole thing the other day.

Left me shaking my head in disgust, all that money spent and we are going to end up with the same situation we found there.

reply to post by Maluhia


Those images are horrible. I think the sad truth is that we are never getting out of these places, and the taxpayer will continue to fund these types of atrocities, like it or not. I mean, what are we going to do? Rise up, demand a leader that will actually pull us back home and focus on getting this country back in order? There was a guy running who would have done that, but he never stood a chance. We are a broken world. I see pictures like that and it reminds me that despite differences, we are all human, and no one should be in those types of conditions. No one should be in war conditions period, in my opinion. I'm gonna stop and get off my high horse now, but you see what I'm saying?

Thanks for posting this 727

I like VICE and the stories they tell. For some reason they are like a breath of fresh air unlike the canned news we seem to get anymore; Becoming a devoted fan of their hard hitting news segments which never seem to disappoint me..

INSANE!! I can not believe this thread received so little attention!

The video is very disturbing, from the first few minutes when they confirm the open molestation of young boys by enemy troops, with one elder man saying (censored by me), "If they did not take these young boys, what would you have then take?... should they take that of their own grandma's?"

If you decide to watch this incredible documentary, be warned, it is very, very real and not suitable for anyone with their head in the sand.

"This is What Winning Looks Like"



.

I'm about 40 minutes into this, and it's blatantly obvious that these people in the Afghan National Army, and local militias, claiming to want to turn the country around don't actually want it. This is nothing but a big, fat resource grab for them. Horrific crimes & drug abuse aside, this blase attitude that has been so prevalent so far in the documentary clearly shows they're not taking much seriously.

I'd said it before, and I'll play the broken record here. You can't help those who don't want it. They don't want help, they want supplies.

a reply to: Nyiah

I agree and think that is an exact reason 'Winning' a conflict like this would be so hard! How do you change a way of life for people who don't want to change? I think the best thing we could do is get the hell out of there... but then, that would be like learning you have a giant, cancerous tumor on your back and deciding to ignore it. Sooner or later it's gonna get strong enough to take you out, in a very nasty and hellish way.

I'm still amazed that this documentary hasn't received more attention from ATS, as it's one of the most revealing, graphic, shocking, and authentic I've ever seen!

a reply to: Nyiah

I recently watched another documentary from Vice, about the dire situation in Liberia. Drug use was so common that, to illustrate the point, they showed a 12 year-old kid getting high on heroin - really, really high. Then, to calm him down from the heroin, they gave him a lot of coc aine! They go on to say that this is their daily routine.

The point is that this seems to be common among many loosely regulated militias - the boy in Liberia, getting high, is a child soldier.

The Marines were being very patient and trying to show these Afghan soldiers how to properly lead, treat prisoners, and maintain their facilities. The Afghan soldiers responded as if they were on board with the Marines, but it quickly became apparent that all they wanted to do was stay high on opium and disappear when it was time for them to take anything resembling a leadership role.

They'd hear gunshots in the distance and quickly level their weapons and fire randomly into clay wall, bushes and civilians. When the Marines try to stop them , so they wouldn't waste ammo, you could see the discontent on the Afghan soldiers' faces. They were laughing and having fun firing randomly and only seemed concerned with the Marines giving them more ammunition, so they could continue their ignorant & blind retaliation.

The Afghan soldiers had disassembled the compound barriers and sold it for scrap metal prices. They had something like 50 official vehicles issued to them and they only had about 15 that actually worked - they had junked them for scrap too. However, even though they had scrapped most of their vehicles, they were still collecting aid for all of them - gas, oil, & maintenance money.

Sounds a lot like my elderly neighbor's son, who lives in their basement - minus the molestation... I hope.

After watching this, I can definitely see why Marines , like those in this documentary, are sooo frustrated!

There is one Marine who you can see is emotionally invested . They even comment about his attachment and emotions in the doc....

If anyone reading this hasn't watched it yet, I highly recommend it. A for report on a situation.