The Indian role in Afghanistan (new title)

[carl]

Dayuhan:

If the Indians, or maybe when the Indians, take over in Afghanistan, they are likely to have a very great advantage over us. They will recognize from the beginning who their primary enemy is, the Pak Army/ISI. They won't feed the cat that is clawing at their leg.

The evidence would lie in the experience of everyone who has ever tried to occupy and pacify Afghanistan. Sure, maybe they were all just doing it wrong, and if you do it right it will be a cakewalk... but are you prepared to go in with that assumption?

I never understand this contention. Lots of people have beaten up an occupied Afghanistan. The famously truculent Nuristanis were forcebly (sic) converted to Islam. The Brits never really wanted the place as more than a buffer that they could manipulate and they mostly achieved that. The Russkis got kicked out by American and Saudi money. The Afghans never could have done it on their own. Where does this idea that the Afghans are ten feet tall come from.