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We knew how to win the peace. We choose not to win the peace because doing so would require actions counter to the actual goals. Like so many political "failures" in the US, Afghanistan was just a way of siphoning tax money under the guise of "helping". Actually achieving peace would halt the gravy train and impose political costs.
How would we win “The Peace” in Afghanistan? They aren’t like us.
Victory to me is having as cheap as possible military assets in country to blow up anything that is a future terrorist camp trying to do 9/1
Honestly, that would have been my preference, especially in hindsight. Go in, deliver a punitive expedition, leave after having sent the message. The nation-building and "you break it, you bought it" ideology was well-intentioned, but overly idealistic.
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Pacification of a population has many historical examples to draw on, many of which are well-known and studied. That we choose not to follow them is not due to lack of knowledge but rather due to "morality", which I put in air quotes because I'm pretty confident it is less true belief in said morality than the domestic political benefits of signaling said morality driving the decision.
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