Throughout recent history, one regime after another has acted to impose their will, ostensibly as liberators, upon an Afghan nation. Time and time again the foreign occupiers have failed to produce a government that has served the Afghan people well. Yet, President Obama has decided to dedicate more resources to a mission that history has proven impossible.
The United States' occupation of Afghanistan was a direct result of the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center, an assault upon our nation which was planned and executed with the full support of the Taliban supported Al-Qaeda. The original purpose for attacking Afghanistan was to throw the Taliban out of power. Now there is an ongoing goal to keep them from regaining control of the government. For some reason we presume that the Afghani people are going to take up our cause and risk their own lives to prevent the Taliban from regaining their foot hold; we are going to risk the lives of our soldiers to support a cause that the Afghan people may not care about and be willing to support.
When the U.S. helped the Afghans defeat the Soviet Union during the Soviet-Afghan war, instead of proving our might and helping them rebuild their nation we simply disappeared leaving their country in ruins. Why should the Afghans have any trust in the United States? In addition, there is great risk that the Afghanis will not commit themselves to our goals hence any further dedication of resources will prove to be little more than an exercise in futility.
The United States' occupation of Afghanistan was a direct result of the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center, an assault upon our nation which was planned and executed with the full support of the Taliban supported Al-Qaeda. The original purpose for attacking Afghanistan was to throw the Taliban out of power. Now there is an ongoing goal to keep them from regaining control of the government. For some reason we presume that the Afghani people are going to take up our cause and risk their own lives to prevent the Taliban from regaining their foot hold; we are going to risk the lives of our soldiers to support a cause that the Afghan people may not care about and be willing to support.
When the U.S. helped the Afghans defeat the Soviet Union during the Soviet-Afghan war, instead of proving our might and helping them rebuild their nation we simply disappeared leaving their country in ruins. Why should the Afghans have any trust in the United States? In addition, there is great risk that the Afghanis will not commit themselves to our goals hence any further dedication of resources will prove to be little more than an exercise in futility.
5 comments:
Response to "Another Futile Afghan War"
Sean's post about the War on Terror in Afghanistan is spot on. As he mentions, Afghanistan has resisted and outlasted every attack in centuries past. Now the U.S. may have ousted the Taliban and sent Al Qaeda running for their mountain hideaways but that does not mean that we have won. The British failed, the Russians failed, and now it seems as though we too shall fail. I believe it is not a question of 'if' we will fail but 'when'. Going back to Sean's post, he discusses how the U.S. is basically trying to force a democracy onto these Afghan people. Is there any indication that a democratic system would even work in Afghanistan? Has any government system in that country ever worked for more than a few years? It is plain ignorance and arrogance to think that we can go over there and expect to change the way these people live. They have been living this way for thousands of years.
Now that's not to say that I am against the war in Afghanistan. Because of 9/11, the Taliban and Al Qaeda needed to be brought to their knees. However, now we've got the lovely task of cleaning up their mess. Who knows how long that will take? President Obama says he will start bringing troops home in 2011. That doesn't mean they're all coming home in 2011. It simply means some of the troops will start coming home. It could be another 5 or 10 years before all U.S. troops are out of Afghanistan. We certainly do not want this turning into another Vietnam War. Even though, some would argue, it already has become that.
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