Alexander had a lot of trouble in that region during his invasion of the Afghan Kingdoms in 330 B.C, according to Pressfield “more massacres of Macedonian troops happened in those three years than in all of Alexander and his father’s Philip’s other campaigns combined.”Alexander thought he would pacify the region in a short while but instead it took him three long years. He was very brutal against his enemies but he still could not find a way to defeat them in orderto move on to India. He finally won though by marrying the daughter of
Oxyartes the most powerful of the tribesmen. So in effect, he became part of the tribe, so in the end he secured his flank and got the hell out of there,with a fifth of his army to garrison the place.

This is an interview on the Afghan Campaign:
http://www.stevenpressfield.com/content/afghan_campaign.asp

Stephen Pressfield wrote a fascinating article called “It’s the Tribes, Stupid”, while I dont agree with his conclusion that this war has nothing to do with religion, it is still fascinating and gives a lot of insight on how tribalism works.

http://www.d-n-i.net/fcs/pressfield_tribes.htm

“The tribe must have a chief. It demands a leader. With a top dog, every underdog knows his place. He feels secure. He can provide security for this family. The tribe needs a Tony Soprano. It needs a Godfather.

The U.S. blew it in Iraq the first week after occupying Baghdad. Capt. Nate Fick of the Recon Marines tells the story of that brief interlude when U.S. forces were still respected, just before the looting started. Capt. Fick went in that interval to the local headman in his area of responsibility in Baghdad; he asked what he needed. The chief replied, “Clean water, electricity, and as many statues of George W. Bush as you can give us.

The tribe needs a boss. Alexander understood this. Unlike the U.S., the Macedonians knew how to conquer a country. When Alexander took Babylon in 333 B.C., he let the people know he was the man. They accepted this. They welcomed it. Life could go on.

When we Americans declared in essence to the Iraqis, “Here, folks, you’re free now; set up your own government,” they looked at us as if we were crazy. The tribal mind doesn’t want freedom; it wants security. Order. It wants a New Boss. The Iraqis lost all respect for us then. They saw us as naive, as fools. They saw that we could be beaten.”

And by the way Genghis Khan did have trouble in afghanistan, according to Britanica Online,

“Jalal al-Din Mingburnu rallied the Afghan highlanders at Parwan (modern Jabal os Saraj), near Kabul, and inflicted a crushing defeat on the Mongols under Kutikonian.”

“Genghis Khan, who was then at Herat, hastened to avenge the defeat and laid siege to Bamian. There Mutugen, the khan’s grandson, was killed, an event so infuriating to Genghis Khan that when he captured the citadel he ordered that no living being be spared. Bamian was utterly destroyed”

I don’t think we need to concern ourselves with tribalism per se in any country. It is a tremendous handicap, and makes any country that cannot remove it terribly weak. Our goal should be to have as little contact as possible with such cultures. It’s simply not in our interest! If that country is harboring terrorists, on the other hand, then we send them an ultimatum: turn them over, and if you refuse then we will deal with them and you in a manner of our choosing, and any deaths you incur will be your responsibility. Then we ask the military how best to remove the threat. The United States could easily take the mountainous caves of Afghanistan and turn them into a nuclear wasteland with ground penetrating tactical nukes, and the ecological effects–if that’s of any concern–would be minimal, but that’s just one option I can imagine. We don’t even have to nuke the whole country, just the mountains on the border with Pakistan, so that this “border” is actually properly sealed and everybody inside stays inside.

Honestly though, I don’t think that Afghanistan is the problem. Terrorists can only strike at the United States because of their major state sponsors–especially Iran. That’s where we should focus our attention.

It seems that great empires have had a lot of trouble subduing the Afghan region throught history, from Alexander the Great, the British, Soviets, Americans, even Ghengis Khan had some troble with them.

Even though Alexander the Great was very ruthless against the peole in that area(he had no Just War Theory getting in the way), he stil had a lot of troble handeling that area.

Why are tribalists regions so difficult to control? And if we somehow did get a proper warfighting doctrine without Christian ethics interfering what would be the proper way to fight a war against them? I ask becaus even though Alexander the Great was very ruthless against the peole in that area(he had no Just War Theory getting in the way), he still had a lot of troble defeating his “Afghan” enemies.
Would a modern military have different luck?

I recently saw an episode from the original series where Captain Kirk gives a speech where he mentions individual rights that nearly knocked me out of my chair, where else could you see that? Too bad they don’t make shows like this anymore.

I would say that the show was on the whole rather mixed philosophically, but still great on the whole.