For nearly ten years, the United States Armed Forces have waged a protracted, demanding, sporadic war in Afghanistan, a nation which has witnessed (overseen?) the demise of great empires in the past: Alexander the Great, the British, the Soviets. . .
The United States had a welcome reason for invading: bring down the Taliban and bring out Osama bin Laden, 9-11 mastermind, dead or alive.
We may have succeeded in bringing down the Taliban . . .at least as the main governing force in that country. In its stead, Afghanistan now has "elected president" Hamid Karzai, a crooked gangster siphoning off millions in foreign aid to line his own pockets, while corrupt police and a terrified citizenry still go without adequate sustenance, security, and sanctity. He even openly solicits the support of previous leaders under the Taliban regime!
Women are still forced into arranged marriages. Some reports from the country indicate they still suffer under the heavy burkha--er, burden of sharia law. Any effort to preserve the rights of women has met with overwhelming opposition.
What reason do we have to believe that the United States can have any long-term success in that region? What would define such success? After ten years, that question has not been answered.
It could not, never could be, nation-building. The country is riddled with fraction factions divided into blood-feuding tribes pursuing their own interests at all costs. The requisite bases of courts, markets, contracts, enforcement, do not exist in that country, as they did in Iraq. Those fundamental aspects of civilizations cannot be created out of whole cloth by an invading presence with no viable knowledge of the indigenous languages, customs, and culture. Afghans are demanding that Marines help them with irrigation, farming, the basic elements of civilized life. None of these demands should be shouldered on the brave men and women stationed in that country. They were not trained to offer such services.
Let's not overlook the number once source of revenue for impoverished farmers in that region: opium, the illegal and illicit substance traded through black markets around the world. How else can Afghan farmers support themselves? They are continuing to grow that crop in open defiance of the occupying forces who had liberated them in the first place.
Policy analysts assert that the United States must remain in Afghanistan to protect this country from future attacks. Unmanned drones scouring the many unmarked caves of Afghanistan would safeguard this nation from future attack just as well, without imperilling out troops on the ground. The Taliban has already reintroduced itself into Kabul's political circus. Our only meaningful purpose for maintaining any presence there would be to deter future terrorist networks.
The United States does not have the power or authority to change the shape of that nation. Let's not continue to pretend that we can now. We must leave the fate of Afghanistan to its people, whether they rise up and take more active control of their government, or devolve into warring factions along tribal prejudices.
It's funny to see how international conflicts not only working themselves into Congressional debates, but also to witness liberals scolding conservatives about fiscal discipline in the face of the rising military costs of two wars in the Middle East.
ReplyDeleteCongressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) has submitted a resolution outlining that continued American action in Afghanisitan will cost another $1 trillion dollars over the next nine years.
I appreciate the cunning of this peace Democrat. He is framing his objections to the Afghan war in fiscal terms, a move which will galvanize Tea Party affiliates. This will lead to one of two outcomes: divide the Republican party and diffuse their efforts in the 2012 election, or push for a more rapid withdrawl from Afghanistan. Hopefully, the later scenario will pan out.
The fiscal hawks must have the last word in this debate. Military goals must be determined by financial realities. Otherwise, foundering under its own insolvency, the United States will no longer exist to require national security.