Sebastian Junger: We Can Win In Afghanistan

Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2010/05/25/Uncommon_Kn...

Sebastian Junger, author of "War" and co-director of the awarding-winning documentary "Restrepo", rebukes Middle East scholar Fouad Ajami's argument that the war in Afghanistan is a futile effort. While Ajami argues that "there is no Afghanistan to put back together," Junger recalls the nation as a relatively peaceful tourist destination in the 1960s and '70s.

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A contributing editor to Vanity Fair magazine, Sebastian Junger is the best-selling author of The Perfect Storm, A Death in Belmont, and Fire. Between June 2007 and June 2008, Mr. Junger was embedded with the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, making five trips to the Korengal Valley of eastern Afghanistan, a location that saw more combat than any other in the Afghan theater. Mr. Junger describes what he experienced in his latest book, War.

From this close-in vantage point, Junger discusses the universal themes at play in the experience of all soldiers, ancient and modern, who experience combat: fear, killing, and love, that "intoxicating" bond formed by the men who wage battle together.

Junger also takes a step back to reflect on his own (the journalist's) experience covering war. "Pure objectivity ... isn't remotely possible in a war... Objectivity and honesty are not the same thing, though, and it is entirely possible to write with honesty about the very personal and distorting experiences of war." Finally Junger addresses the one question that cannot be avoided: "Is the war in Afghanistan worth it?" - Hoover Institution

A contributing editor to Vanity Fair magazine, Sebastian Junger is the best-selling author of The Perfect Storm, A Death in Belmont, and Fire. Between June 2007 and June 2008, Mr. Junger was embedded with the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, making five trips to the Korengal Valley of eastern Afghanistan, a location that saw more combat than any other in the Afghan theater. Mr. Junger describes what he experienced in his latest book, War.

Peter M. Robinson is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, where he writes about business and politics, edits Hoover's quarterly journal, the Hoover Digest, and hosts Hoover's television program, Uncommon Knowledge.

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  News & Politics

[MultiUniv3rsal]

Your right. We're not at war with Afghanistan, we're at war on behalf of the Afghanis.

We weren't at war with Iraq, either. Just with those who would sell out their own countrymen for profit.

[irishlight42]

Actually for the Russians it was more like 200,000 at any given time in their war, because they were fighting in Panjshr and the non-tribal parts of the country with all the different ethnic groups, whereas for us we're just fighting some of the Pashtuns in the tribal belt of the country.

I understand you probably never spent serious time in Afghanistan like Sebastian Junger, but but then maybe you shouldn't generalize what he's saying so much.

[JacksonOssea]

I disagree with the WWII comparison but he has a perspective that Ihope to never have.

[UNJUSTIFICATION1]

@MajorLeaguelnfidel , yes, it can't be done.. because ur fighting the people of afghanistan,, ur not fighting anyone else.. if the fighters were foreign, then yes u will win.. but the fact of the matter is , the fighters are afghan which own that country and ur fighting them... so its a losing situation.. ur fighting the afghans which is not helpful.. The best that they can do is... support afghan army .. put them in those posts, and pull out all foreign western armies from that country.

[mogambo55]

“We Can Win In Afghanistan”

Walt Disney should have had your imagination!

The British and the Russians were the last two empires to attempt this and how did that turn out?

This guy needs a lesson or two in history! The Afgans can’t even run Afghanistan so how do bunch of deluded Westerners achieve this!

[nukboyjman]

you should all be ashamed of yourselves for glorifying war. I hope someone kills one of your family members and you have someone talk about it with no sympathy. All you war mongerer's are going to hell

[Robert Berry]

I like Sebastian Junger. He's extremely talented. I hope his documentary, "Restrepo," wins an Academy Award. However, he is totally wrong about the U.S. ever being able to "win" anything in Afghanistan. His own documentary speaks volumes. We haven't learned to fight an insurgent war. We haven't learned that we don't have unlimited soldiers, weapons, and money. We are apparently blind to the fact that we have destabilized the entire region. History will judge us harshly. Thanks George.

[AdonisDelts]

Did this man honestly just compare Afghanistan to WW2? Unlike Nazi Germany, Afghanistan is not fighting for hegemonic, global domination: "ten or twenty thousand fighters essentially barefooted in the mountains with AKs" cannot even dream of such an objective. They may however, if they're lucky, be able to defend THEIR own villages.

This is why the "Western world" who figured out how to drive the German Army out of Europe have such a low morale for fighting this war. It's fruitless.

[truthadvocate]

@irishlight42,

I shouldn't generalize what he's saying? I quoted him.

I don't need to spend time in Afghanistan to know I don't support government wars. Like all government action it serves special interests. Not the interest of the people. If it really served the interest of the people. You wouldn't have to rob hundreds of millions of tax paying Americans to pay for it.

[raggedmoorlander]

At war on behalf of the Afghanis? I think NOT. In the whole history of warfare there has NEVER been a war fought for altruistic purposes. The US is in Afghanistan, as it was in Iraq, to estabish a client state subservient to the requirements of US realpolitik in an resource-rich region.

[Wolfgang Peter May]

So: You think we can "Win" in Afghanistan? We said the same thing in Vietnam, and I am here to testify that we did NOT win there! Wolfgang P. May, Captain, Armor, Advisory Team Leader, Republic of Vietnam!