The long term strategic 1000 Kg "message" is aimed at Moscow and Tehran, who according to analysts, are covertly aiding and advising Afghan Taliban, whereas the US has a long term strategic interest in Central Asia, particularly in the Siberian Lands. Thus, it is just another post-Cold War proxy war between the US and Russia in multiple fronts, which is part and parcel of "The New Great Game".

Iran and Russia Team up with Taliban to Undermine U.S.-led Mission in Afghanistan

Video footage: GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb

KABUL, Afghanistan (April 13, 2017) - A GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb strikes ISIS-K cave and tunnel systems in the Achin district of the Nangarhar Province in eastern Afghanistan at 7:32 p.m. local time Thursday. The strike was designed to minimize risk to Afghan and U.S. Forces conducting clearing operations in the area while maximizing the destruction of ISIS-K fighters and facilities and eliminate any perceived safe haven for ISIS-K in Afghanistan.

The Trump administration might wanted to send a message to North Korea as well.

The US/South Korea/Japan and North Korea are on a collision course. A misunderstanding now can have dire consequences.

Originally Posted by I3BrigPvSk

The Trump administration might wanted to send a message to North Korea as well.

The US/South Korea/Japan and North Korea are on a collision course. A misunderstanding now can have dire consequences.

The problem here is that the only leader out there that is a more petulant, narcissistic, lunatic than Trump is Kim Jong Un.

The world is now staring down two very large barrels both held by unstable children in the midst of a temper tantrum.

Originally Posted by Tuan

The long term strategic 1000 Kg "message" is aimed at Moscow and Tehran, who according to analysts, are covertly aiding and advising Afghan Taliban, whereas the US has a long term strategic interest in Central Asia, particularly in the Siberian Lands. Thus, it is just another post-Cold War proxy war between the US and Russia in multiple fronts, which is part and parcel of "The New Great Game".

Iran and Russia Team up with Taliban to Undermine U.S.-led Mission in Afghanistan

If that is true I guess several old sayings apply in this one, two that spring to mind are "Karmas a *****" and "What goes around comes around".

The west supported the Mujahideen against the Russians and now the Russians are getting their own back, I can't honestly say I am surprised.

So is this the bit where we climb onto our high horse and jump up and down about the Russians being bad or accept that it is "poetic justice" Russian style and start demanding our leaders who continually put us in these messes are held accountable for their shortsightedness.

The US has many options on the table for each of their opponents. Russia, Iran, North Korea, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria are all uniquely different players posing uniquely different threats and thus requires uniquely different responses.

Unfortunately, for Trump it seems like all he has is a hammer, hence everything looks like a nail. You can't really blame him for this, because unlike Obama, who believed in the Liberalist school of thought that warfare was an unnecessary and outdated way of settling disputes between nations, Trump on the other hand portrays himself as a Realist who believes that might is right.

Should we hold them accountable for their shortsightedness? No, because the history of the world has always been like this sort of cycle and repeats itself as the wheels of justice turn slowly, but grind exceedingly fine.

Originally Posted by Tuan

Unfortunately, for Trump it seems like all he has is a hammer, hence everything looks like a nail. You can't really blame him for this, because unlike Obama, who believed in the Liberalist school of thought that warfare was an unnecessary and outdated way of settling disputes between nations, Trump, on the other hand, portrays himself as a Realist who believes that might is right.

Yes and I bet Trump's hammer squeaks when he bangs it on the table, that is the oldest child I have ever seen.

I really didn't like GWB although oddly when he was elected I had high hopes for him however he let himself be led into the legacy he has now, sadly he was a really nice idiot. Trump, on the other hand, lacks both a tolerable personality and intelligence he is the Peter Pan of presidents, the boy who never grew up.

Should we hold them accountable for their shortsightedness? No, because the history of the world has always been like this sort of cycle and repeats itself as the wheels of justice turn slowly, but grind exceedingly fine.

Personally, I think that is a cop out though as the reason the cycle exists is that they are never held responsible, the argument that "It has always been that way" is not a suitable reason not to try and fix it.

How many Iraqi's, Afghans's, service personnel from around the world have to be killed, maimed or mutilated before someone is held responsible?

Somewhat of a disclaimer I fully understand why the US went into Afghanistan and completely agree with it but it has dragged on for far too long because no one seems to know how to end a conflict.

I am sure the US intelligence community knows how to end all their conflicts. To illustrate, they eradicated terrorism in Sri Lanka by an international intelligence collaboration. They won the bloody war by eliminating the “cephalothorax” of the Tamil Tigers.

Although it did work in Sri Lanka, when the US removed Al Qaeda’s “cephalothorax” in the FATA region, the remnants of Al Qaeda operatives, dispersed throughout the Arabian Peninsula. Consequently, they reorganized and formed Daesh. This was only possible because of the geostrategic porous borders, caves and tunnels that spread from Central Asia, Persian Gulf and to Greater Middle East, even some parts of North Africa.

The Tamil Tigers didn’t have this geostrategic advantage since they operated from pockets of a tiny island, their first and foremost FDL happened to be the Indian Ocean and thus the Tamil Tigers’ survival essentially depended on their marine unit for logistics. When the Sri Lankan Navy was assisted by the global powers on taking control of the territorial waters and established sea denial, the terrorist organization was paralyzed.

Equally important is that during last years of the conflict, the Tamil Tigers were isolated form the rest of the world. There was no state support/sponsor for them other than the weak and divided Tamil diaspora, whereas Al Qaeda, Taliban, Hezbollah, Hamas and now Daesh all have always been sponsored by multiple nation states.

As such, like the Japanese Samurai dictum reminds us that “to kill an enemy, shoot his horse first”, we must first eliminate the support bases of all the terrorist organizations to obliterate them. This can only be done through a fusion of soft diplomacy and hard military might. As Roosevelt put it: "speak softly, and carry a big stick".

Originally Posted by Tuan

As such, like the Japanese Samurai dictum reminds us that “to kill an enemy, shoot his horse first”, we must first eliminate the support bases of all the terrorist organizations to obliterate them. This can only be done through a fusion of soft diplomacy and hard military might. As Roosevelt put it: "speak softly, and carry a big stick".

I am not sure there will be too much support for bombing Washington, Moscow, Bejing and the rest of the world's capitals as they are ground zero of just about every terrorist group's support.

If we want to slow terrorism up we first need to get countries to stop meddling in each other's affairs, the first place you can start doing that is by rethinking the UN primarily removing the power of veto or giving the security council/general assembly the ability to override veto with a majority vote.

I didn't realize that Russia was an enemy, as Trump and Putin are supposed to be friends. Trump seems to like the ladies from that part of the world, too.

Originally Posted by Hutchie

I didn't realize that Russia was an enemy, as Trump and Putin are supposed to be friends. Trump seems to like the ladies from that part of the world, too.

I am not sure "friends" is the right word, I would suggest "business associates" is a more accurate description, while there is something in it for each of them they will smile and shake hands but will sink the knife in once something better comes along.

Ah, screw it the best word for that is they are "politicians", can't be trusted and can't be got rid of.