Our 2 Republican senators and Lieberman acknowledge that the war has been mismanaged and misallocated during the last 8 years, and only now:
“At last, we have the right strategy and the civilian and military leaders on the ground in Afghanistan to carry it out. This is a must-win war. And now is the time to commit the decisive military force necessary to prevail.”
We need to thrust forward on the military front (as opposed to the many other points of contact America and Islam are having, sometimes much more productively), and…stamp out the Taliban. It’s not the fault of Afghans, but rather ours, for not making a good plan and sticking to it:
“Moreover, in the absence of basic security, the other crucial components of successful counterinsurgency—fostering the emergence of effective, legitimate government and economic development—simply cannot get off the ground.”
Yet, surely there are politics (ours) involved here. One of the central problems in Afghanistan is the lack of infrastructure, education, literacy, national identity etc that is filled, at times,by poppies, tribal identity, corruption, and the Taliban (as well as space for Al Qaeda). This is why reasonable Americans are nervous. I am suspicious that any Afghan government will sink back down upon these support (or lack thereof) structures.
Add to that the republican party’s disarray right now and I’m even more nervous.
The stakes remain high, and allowing the region to become utterly lawless (except by perhaps the Taliban’s version of Islam) and once again a haven for Al Qaeda is nearly a non-starter.
See Also On This Site: Anthony Cordesman At CSIS: Resourcing For Defeat…From Commonweal: Andrew Bacevich “The War We Can’t Win: Afghanistan And The Limits Of American Power”…From Bloomberg: More Troops To Afghanistan? A Memo From Henry Kissinger To Gerald Ford?…From Newsweek.com: Fareed Zakaria On Afghanistan…Afghanistan Is Not Vietnam.
