No handcuffs in Afghanistan

We keep hearing of brave NATO troops murdered in Afghanistan mainly by sneaky IEDs. Strategic reports indicate that NATO is losing ground to the Taliban, is it not time that the handcuffs are taken off our soldiers?

This is a war, and should not be fought as a peacekeeping mission to win hearts and minds. The Taliban brutalizes village after village, and after torture, wipes out those who do not aid them. It is time that the NATO forces show that there is a price to be paid for co-operating with terrorism, and that handing out candies is not an adequate response to sneak attacks. It is time that the defenders of democracy are allowed to go after the support mechanisms of the bullies who base their operations in mosques, schools, hospitals and homes. It may be harsh, but war is a nasty business and cannot be won by being nice.

If NATO is not allowed to fight properly, we will continue to see an attrition of lives lost to booby traps and ambushes, and there is no point in continuing this strategy that cannot win. In that case, withdraw from Afghanistan, and raze from above those areas from which terrorism is formulated, financed and dispatched. NATO has the air power to do it. In the long run, more soldiers and innocents will be saved than the soft approach.