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To: Brumar89 who wrote (209373)	6/22/2007 7:01:53 AM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793964

So one country shouldn't necessarily be a bigger problem than the other. Afghanistan is much more primitive. Outside of the cities, almost stone-age.

To: Brumar89 who wrote (209373)	6/22/2007 8:22:18 AM
From: unclewest	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793964

Its perplexing that in Afghanistan we've known basically what to do from the getgo while in Iraq we see a lot of ineptness. The two countries are about the same size geographically and population wise. Both are ethnically and religiously split - Pushtun, Tajik, Uzbek, Hazara (who are Shiite). So one country shouldn't necessarily be a bigger problem than the other. The strategic military difference between Afghanistan and Iraq lies in the macro geography. Afghanistan is at least 600 miles from the sea. Add another 600 to get to Kandahar. To get there one must cross Iran or Pakistan. US Army supply convoys will not be crossing either country. Our force in Afghan is small out of necessity. It must be supplied and resupplied by air. The geography forced us to seek an unconventional military solution. With Iran-like geography, I'd bet my jump boots our conventional generals would find a need to have 150,000 of our troops in Afghanistan too. On the other hand with Afghan-like geography we would have a much smaller force in Iraq. Geography is the most important resupply consideration and haste to get to the fight often makes it the most overlooked.