Views on subduing insurgencies

Dustbury is ranting, or venting, as he calls it, and he mentions Sir Charles James Napier who left us with a handful of quotes, some of which might explain why we aren't getting anywhere in Afghanistan. The following is taken from Wikipedia:

General Napier put down several insurgencies in India during his reign as Commander-in-Chief in India, and once said of his philosophy about how to do so effectively:

The best way to quiet a country is a good thrashing, followed by great kindness afterwards. Even the wildest chaps are thus tamed.^[4]

which may help explain why he felt rebellions should be suppressed with such brutality.

He also once said that:

"the human mind is never better disposed to gratitude and attachment than when softened by fear."^[4]

An implementation of this theory would be after the Battle of Miani, where most of the Mirs surrendered. One leader held back and was told by Napier:

Come here instantly. Come here at once and make your submission, or I will in a week tear you from the midst of your village and hang you.^[4]

He also mused that:

"so perverse is mankind that every nationality prefers to be misgoverned by its own people than to be well ruled by another"^[4]