©
AFGHANISTAN
OUR LONGEST WAR
(Embed and link) - By Hyunsoo Leo Kim and Joanne Kimberlin | The Virginian-Pilot
Nearly a decade of combat. More than 1,200 U.S. troops killed. $300 billion spent. Deadlier than ever. Could a Hampton Roads program help us get out of this mess? Read our four-part series about the social scientists who are playing a new part in the conflict.
Part 1: New weapon in an old war. As the cost of the war keeps climbing - in lives and money - a little-known program from Hampton Roads says more bullets are not the answer. Could the Human Terrain System help us find our way home?
Part 2: American muscle proves futile in land of extremes. Grim headlines persist even as leaders try to wage smarter war ahead of next year's planned withdrawal.
Part 3: Building trust amid fear, one mission at a time. Social scientists navigate a human terrain with a deep moral tradition scarred by decades of bloodshed.
Part 4: In the enemy’s lair, fighting for Afghanistan’s future. Cultural scientists make inroads, but a retooling of the program puts its fate into question.
Photo Essay Photographer Hyunsoo Leo Kim documents “the most beautiful ugly place.” Soldiers have seen too much of it; travelers haven’t seen enough.
Additional Video
View our series preview video featuring more photographs from Afghanistan.
Photography from The Pilot
The photos used in this series are available upon request through the Virginian-Pilot photo store.
AFGHAN JOURNAL
dispatches from the war
These articles were published during The Virginian-Pilot’s three-week trip to Afghanistan earlier this summer.
- Years of war have left their mark on life - May 24
- Blast crater a symbolic scar - May 26
- Headlines reflect citizens' priorities, struggles - May 28
- Virginia Beach man finds a role in Kabul - May 29
- Cultures collide at German-run camp - June 1
- Miles from camp like centuries away - June 2
- Camp Dwyer in Helmand, or 'Hell, man' - June 4
- Marines try to build trust - June 9
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Twitter
Google
Yahoo
1st prize: An all expenses paid 1 week vacation in Afghanistan!
Second prize: Two weeks in Afghanistan.
I think we got the booby prize.
This ten year war was on "pause" fro 7 years
Bush put Afghanistan war on hold for 7 years while he wheeled (I would like to know his real reasons) turned on Iraq. The war in Afghanistan would have been over by now and with much better result if the war had been finished before Iraq. And the republican want to return to the bush way of doing things.
War?
No one ever ask why the Russians spent 10 years fighting in Afghanistan and why it was a utter failure. Now America wants to cash in.So what is the real reason?
Most Powerful Nation on Earth
I have to say that I was one of those that supported the war at the beginning. Kill the Muslim Horde that was trying to Kill us. But now I look at it so much differently. WE are the UNITED STATES of AMERICA! and if WE as a Nation with the most advanced, most powerful Military in the world cannot destroy, defeat and win a WAR against a country against a Backwards 12th century country then guess what . WE HAVE LOST! We will never change a thing over there NEVER. And it's not the troops That have lost this war but the Politician. Again If we are not there to win it get the hell out!
Another Spit in the Ocean
$300 billion dollars and counting- just another spit in the ocean for the American taxpayers...chuck it up to the cost of freedom.
Poor desperate souls clinging to the last helicopter's skids.
That image from our "last day" in South Vietnam is still vivid in my mind.
I'm afraid we will be witnessing images just like it as we leave Afghanistan and those that cooperated with us are left behind to fend for themselves.
Longest War?
After listening to excerpts on Bob Woodward's new book, and seeing a tape of how the generals are not listening to Obama's wishes and they urge continuation of the war. I wish our President would get up on his hind legs and say the he is he Commnder in Chief and he wants them to follow his orders. We cannot win in Afghanistan. War is a money making proposition and the munitions makers don't care of justice, legality or lives of people on both sides. In fact,there are DOD saying we do not need this plane or that ship. However, there are millions to be made by ordering them anyway. Money and funds are more useful in repairing the damage done to the fighting men, women and their families.
Wrong Headline
The headline should read our longest overseas war. We were at war with various Native American tribes for many decades.
Well that was just genocide, so maybe it didn't count as a war.
The gift of American exceptionalism.
Remember....
We need to STOP trying to use OUR military as a scalpel. It is a Broadsword and needs to be used as such. The constant whining about possible "collateral damage" should cease. Go in, kick butt, take names. In WW2 there was always collateral damage. Back then the civilians would actually make an attempt to GET OUT OF THE WAY. That is exactly what needs to be done here. Either actually FIGHT a war, or bring the troops home and let these third world countries deal with their own problems.