Quote Originally Posted by Ken White View Post
that the figures -- as also you note -- are imprecise but that, regardless, Afghanistan is primarily a rural Nation to the hilt -- it poses different parameters in many senses than anyplace we've operated since the Indian wars in our own west -- and not even I am old enough to recall that...

It's also very xenophobic and very mountainous -- real mountains. the corridors and compartments mess up many things...True.Also true...
Ken,
I would be very hesitant to apply the term "nation" to the area we happen to call Afghanistan. I submit that the first order of business to getting on with business in that part of the world is to recognize that the place is nothing like a nation as Western Europeans understand that term. As I've previously posted, the closest thing to it that we might use as a basis for understanding is the amalgamation of efforts by ancient Greek city states in response to the Persian invasions or to the perceived slight against Menelaus of Sparta when Helen left for Troy with Paris.

Alternatively, to follow up on your point about Native Americans, we might consider the "cooperation" among the various Apache tribes, like the Chiricahua, Jicarilla, and Mescalero under leaders like Cochise, Managas Coloradas, Geronimo and Victorio as more like what is happening in the socities that are the focus of our current fight. And as far as tactics in unforgiving terrain goes, I suspect we could learn some lessons from the Modoc Indian War.