“He didn’t suffer, did he? Please tell me he didn’t suffer.”

Marcus Luttrell, “Lone Survivor,” “The eyewitness account of Operation Redwing and the lost heroes of Seal Team 10” in Afghanistan THIS is the true story of a four-man US Navy Seal team sent out on a mission in the Afghan-Pakistan border to capture a notorious al-Qaeda leader.

Less than twenty-four hours later, only one remained alive for five days in one of the most inhospitable mountains in the world.

Sent to search and rescue the lone survivor, a Chinook helicopter of 19 troopers and crew was shot down with no survivors that led to the largest loss of life in Navy Seal history.

This is just one of the many heroic acts of individual soldiers of the multinational NATO contingents in Afghanistan, mainly American and British troops, fighting in an hostile environment and an increasingly unpopular war among Americans whose cost to the American taxpayers is now in excess of US one trillion dollars, and counting, and mounting casualties.

Afghanistan, an endless sea of arid, barren deserts, deep valleys, treacherous mountains, countless impenetrable caves, and tall peaks, is home to fiercely independent competing tribes of which the Pashtuns comprise the majority, and today being exacerbated by the rejuvenated Taliban militants and the elusive al-Qaeda international terrorists dispersed all along the Afghan-Pakistani border.

Afghanistan has never been subdued or tamed by all invading foreign armies from ancient times to the British, then Russians, and today by America.

This war is an unwinnable war for the United States of America that may yet become a greater tragedy at horrendous cost to American lives and the US economy than the heartbreaking Vietnam conflict.

As in Vietnam, patriotic soldiers that they are, they will fight for America but they increasingly question, as in Vietnam, what is America fighting for, and whether the war is worth it so far away and so alien to western values.

Alas, the misadventure in Afghanistan, like the tragic and intellectually dishonest invasion of Iraq, has been blamed on the neglect and lack of transparency of the Bush administration.

Soon, with President Barack Obama sending additional 21,000 troops, there will be about 55,000 American troops plus NATO allies on the ground.

In Afghanistan, there are the Taliban fundamentalists who would want to regain political power after being ousted by the Americans.

There are the al-Qaeda international terrorists who do their planning and receive orders from the leaders somewhere along the Afghan-Pakistan border.

And then, there are rival, fiercely independent, and nationalistic tribesmen who are against all kinds of foreign intruders whether they be Persians, Mongols, British, Russians, or Americans.

As Professor of Political Science, MIT, Fotini Christia, had observed, “The overriding lesson of the US experience in Iraq is that no occupancy power can hope to quash an insurgency by killing and capturing its way to victory. It must make friends, especially among its enemies. In Afghanistan, a counter insurgency strategy that includes a creditable attempt at reconciliation is more likely to achieve stability than one that relies solely on foreign troops and victories in the battlefield.”

When all is said and done, the do-gooders and bleeding hearts in America – as well as the one-track American transnationals whose business is business – need to be reminded that most Middle Eastern states have no previous history and experience in American democracy.

As in Myanmar, America should not shove down the throats of these nations western democracy if they are not yet ready for it.

You be the judge. (For comments, please e-mail: chaff_fromthegrain@yahoo.com.ph)