When the United States behaves clumsily, it is easy for the world to misjudge, because the United States actually has smart times. Even when it comes to Afghanistan, the United States does not always greatly overestimate itself, thinking that every country and every nation in the world needs peace, prosperity, Hollywood, Broadway, where men can shave and women can wear skirts. After sacrificing nearly 2,500 soldiers and spending 2 trillion US dollars, if you find that the United States has reached a good deal of 60,000-70,000 US dollars in exchange for 20 million US dollars decades ago, it may be equivalent to taking a special painkiller. , although the effect may not be particularly long.
A "Stinger" shoulder-fired missile costs 60,000 to 70,000 US dollars, the Soviet Mi-24 gunship it destroyed costs about 20 million US dollars, and the MiG fighter is even more expensive. During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the guerrillas launched a total of 340 Stinger missiles, destroying 269 Soviet military aircraft of various types, with a success rate of nearly 80%. The original superpower suffered heavy losses and was embarrassed.
The number one credit for such a successful operation is not the Pentagon, CIA and other huge institutions, and the White House team at that time basically could not figure out the clues to solve the problem. It was the personal efforts of Charles Wilson, a Democratic congressman from the second district of Texas. to the key role. Rewatch the 2007 movie "Charlie Wilson's War" about the wrestling around Afghanistan in the 1980s, with guerrillas on the ground, Soviet troops on the ground but more in the air, Zia Haq Pakistan is nearby, and the real chess game is played in Washington.
This is a comedy. Charles Wilson, who served in the House of Representatives from 1973 to 1996, has a style that is difficult to accept in today's Washington, if he is either coerced into #MeToo or killed by "cancel culture". He only recruits beautiful women as assistants, and only bust discrimination cannot be seen in 2021. His motto is "Teaching girls to type is easy, teaching girls to enlarge breasts is difficult".
It is such an unusual Charles Wilson, who even General Zia Haq, who murdered Pakistan's civilian Prime Minister Bhutto, believed to have many character flaws, managed to turn things around and increase US funding for Afghan resisters from $5 million to 1 billion. The mature and timely Stinger missile is like a nail in a coffin, and finally locked Afghanistan into the graveyard of the Soviet empire.
The contemporary U.S. military has not lost to anyone on the battlefield, but rebuilding the country is not what they are best at. Iron fists may not be able to embroider, although there are precedents in Japan and Germany. The days of Charles Wilson are over, and I can only hope that his alternative wisdom will provide a glimpse.
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