[9th Engineer]

How am I spouting right wing rhetoric? I am completely opposed to any and all intervention in the region, none of the stabilization bullcrap that gets thrown around as an excuse. If they are willing to put up with Taliban regulations in return for stability than that's fine in my opinion, like you said a growling stomach speaks loudest. Even though any base of Taliban operations is far from a good thing they'll have a much harder time recruiting bombers if we don't play into their propaganda. Let that region sort itself out. If we find they're basing military operations there we should deal with it via special forces and a well maintained spy network left in place after our withdrawl. Funding isn't an issue for any Islamic group so long as we buy oil from Iran so it makes no difference if they make money off the poppy crop their, they'll have their funding one way or another.

This is not a war that can be fought with overt military action, but rather by human inteligence networks, special forces strikes, and assasinations. Bribes and political manipulation via propaganda will also get us much farther than artillery.

The number 1 rule in war is that you must find what your opponent finds most precious and destroy it. We need to work behind the curtains and in the shadows to undermine Islam's faith in its clerics if we want to come out on top.