A Lesson From History

With the retreat from Afghanistan nearly completed .....

Sir William Robertson Got Afghanistan Spot On ....

.... well ahead of President Biden's arbitrary 11th September 2021 deadline, its perhaps time for a lesson from history.

Hidden History

The exact location of the tomb of Alexander the Great, and his final will and settlement of his Empire have long been mysteries. The location of the tomb for instance has been lost for centuries. Initially buried in Memphis Egypt but later in the late 4th or early 3rd century BC, Alexander's body was allegedly transferred from Memphis to Alexandria, where it was reburied.

Is This His Sarcophagus?

Historically its location was known for hundreds of years, it was visited by Caesar in 48BC and partially looted later by Caligula. In 199AD Alexander's tomb was sealed up by Emperor Septimius Severus during his visit to Alexandria, and then in 215AD, some items from Alexander's tomb were relocated by Emperor Caracalla for reasons that are not clear.

A Land Of Only Stones And Men

With the withdrawal of the latest foreign armies from Afghanistan later this year, this time its the largest part of the US and NATO forces, the focus is of course on what's going to happen there next, with most of the smart money on the Taliban taking over again within a few years, (if the US tires of propping up the regime - some US , UK and NATO forces will remain but in smaller numbers), and certainly within the decade, regardless of the military aid given (See Soviet experience).

In the meantime, the whole debacle has reopened a long running argument amongst military historians, going back at least as far as the mid 19th century, as to whether Afghanistan can be occupied by any foreign power. Now before I discuss this further, I need to point out that no one seriously suggests that Afghan armies are unbeatable in battle, and in fact their armies have been regularly beaten in battles against foes as diverse as the Persians, the Greeks under 'Alexander The Great', the Mongols, the Arabs, the Mughals and even the British (who usually did well in punitive raids and revenge marches). But where it always goes badly wrong, as the British have found out a few times over the centuries, is when the invaders try to stay.

Invasions Of Afghanistan - All Ended In Retreat

The Afghans may be only able to raid from the hills against superior forces, but in a land that one Emir who was fighting the British described as "a land of only stones and men", a description which is still true today, there is no material gain in invading. What was true then and now, was that there is no money in what is historically a very poor land, one in which 'honour' and 'religion', is all that the men had to fight over. A situation that is nearly as true now, as it was when the Emir spoke those words ..... if wasn't for the West's unending appetite for the heroin derived from Afghanistan's poppy fields.

However, poppy juice not withstanding, the Afghan poverty makes it impossible to get the Afghans to pay for their own occupation, either by way of taxes, or to get them provide reliable soldiers to defend any 'friendly' regime against its own rebels. The occupiers end up haemorrhaging both their own blood and money, to little material or political gain, and it apparently matters little which military, or political tactics, they adopted.

For instance the Soviets tried brute numbers, and fought a no quarter, no rules war that left 1.5 million dead, figures which are even higher if the casualties from the subsequent civil war, which saw the Taliban sweep into power, are added in. However the cost to the soviet economy was only about $2bn (£1.2bn), a year in materials and weapons etc which seems a pittance compared with the US efforts.

The US tried to fight a 'smart war', with a highly trained professional army (as opposed to the Soviets conscript soldiers), and with an estimated 100,000 casualties so far, its certainly a far less bloody conflict than the Soviet version, but this latest Afghan War has also been far more expensive than the Soviet misadventure, with the US have already spent more than $700bn (£418bn) .... but to much the same effect.

There is a lot to be said in being a backward, fanatical, bloody-minded peoples, with an almost casual disregard for the value of human life, because in the end, most occupiers just throw in the towel, as the British did in 1842, as the Soviets did in 1988, and as the US and NATO will start to do later this year.    

Greek Villains

As many of us have grown to expect from the BBC's 'PC' culture these days ......... Western culture and history is no longer acceptable and we have to take the history of the middle east as the 'real' history, and our own as a 'colonialists' view. Of course these third world countries, which are in the main Islamic and where the populations generally believe in witchcraft, and also that Sharks, Vultures and various other animals are Israeli spy's, also fabricate history to fit their current needs.

But hey, what the heck, that's no more than the BBC does with British myths and legends.

So it was no surprise to find that in the wars between the nascent cultures that eventually became the West and the Middle East, the BBC now suggests that from outside Greece, it was the Greeks, and their proto - democratic traditions, which incidentally informed the BBC's charter, who were essentially in the wrong. The Persian (Iranian) tradition ... which has resulted in the Mullahs, was really the good guys. Alexander the Great was a villain of the first order, in fact one of a string of Greek villains, who caused the cultural rift between East and West by their boorish behaviour towards the civilised Persians.

Alexander The Great - Basileus of Macedon

Of course this being the middle east, where history is always re-written to claim that they are supreme, the story adds that "in the great Iranian national epic, the Shahnameh, written in the 10th Century AD, Alexander is no longer a wholly foreign prince but one born of a Persian father". Ah that explains it, a Greek is really half Persian, and thus another Myth and legend becomes the reality .... much like the BBC's view of Britain.

So there we are then .... what a waste of 2,500 yrs. All we had to have done to reach a state of civilisation and bliss was for the Greeks to have surrendered to the Emperor God Kings, Darius or Xerxes, and it would have been the making of us, living under these despotic god kings for millennia would have taken us to the same state as Iran, or Saudi Arabia, which is obviously a better one than our own.

That course would have been bound to end up with democracy and the BBC ...... so what are we all waiting for, lets turn towards the Middle East and prostrate.