Hearts And Minds Splattered All Over The Place

"Hearts and Minds was a euphemism for a campaign by the United States military during the Vietnam War, intended to win the popular support of the Vietnamese people."


The Afghan village that’s been wiped from the map - with 25 tons of coalition bombs

"Tarok Kolache, a small settlement in Kandahar, has been completely erased from the map after an offensive by the U.S. army."

"Taliban militants had taken control of the village and battered the coalition task force with homemade bombs and improvised explosive devices.And after two attempts at clearing the village led to casualties on both sides, Lieutenant Colonel David Flynn, commander of the Combined Joint Task Force 1-320th gave the order to pulverise the village.

The destruction only escalated, however, with ’49,200lbs of ordnance’ dropped on the village via air strikes and ground-launched rockets, which saw it swiftly blown off the face of the earth.The results of the battery were adjudged to have left ‘NO CIVCAS’ - no civilians killed.But with Tarok Kolache bombarded with close to 25 tons of explosives, assuming some collateral damage does not seem unjustified.
Outside analysts have not been able to assess the impact of the bombing on civilians due to security concerns.

However, it has been agreed that 'extreme' operations such as the destruction of an entire village are likely to have a negative impact on attempts to improve coalition-Afghan relations."

Pentagon blows up thousands of homes in Afghanistan