I'm reading some essays Chomsky wrote in the 1960s, about Vietnam... It's worth remembering that Vietnam was a liberal project, supported by two Democratic presidents. Here's an update on the war our current batch of Democratic leaders can all believe in:
KABUL, July 9 (Reuters) - Foreign troops led by NATO and the U.S. military must exercise caution to avoid further civilian casualties while hunting militants in Afghanistan, or people will rise against them, lawmakers have warned.
...
"They should not act like the former Soviet Union did in Afghanistan," the [Afghan upper house of parliament] said in a statement, the Anis daily newspaper reported.
It was referring to the 10 years Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s when Moscow's forces relied heavily on air raids in the war against guerrillas known as mujahideen, or Muslim holy fighters, causing widespread destruction and civilian deaths.
Update:
From today's Washington Post:
Congress has quietly used fiscal 2008 legislation on military construction to signal that it plans on a long-term military presence in Afghanistan.
In the recently approved supplemental funding bill for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, legislators approved construction of a $62 million ammunition storage facility at Afghanistan's Bagram Air Base, where 12 planned "igloos" will support Army and Air Force needs.
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In another sign that U.S. troops will be there a long time, the Army requested, and Congress provided, $41 million for a 30-megawatt power plant at Bagram. It is capable of generating enough electricity for a town of more than 20,000 homes.