Saving Afghanistan

The best way to save Afghanistan is to get out. But who are we saving Afghanistan from? Al Qaeda? Al Qaeda left long ago. They are in Pakistan, our nuclear ally. We are fighting in the wrong country. One Afghan official has said that Afghans do not accept the notion that foreign invaders are “fighting for our freedom.” Bringing freedom and democracy to a country at the point of a gun does not gain supporters. All it does is make the people “mad as hell”. They will not be satisfied until they throw the invaders out. Meanwhile the U.S. is wasting blood and treasure in another losing battle. Viet Nam and Iraq are good examples of stupid political decisions.

The U.S. decision makers are claiming that we must save the Afghan people from the Taliban. Firstly, the Taliban is not Al Qaeda. They are not terrorists. Secondly, they traditionally ruled the country. In 2001 by overthrowing the Taliban, the largest ethnic group in the country, we put in power the Tajiks, a smaller ethnic group of the North. Now we have set up the country for a civil war as the Taliban takes back its control. Similarly, we brought about a civil war in Iraq by causing ethnic conflict that resulted in the deaths of a million Iraqis. So far does it sound as though we are helping the Afghans.

Next, the President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, was put in place by the Bush-Cheney administration to form a central government in a country that has no longing for a national government. Karzai is a puppet and his government is weak, incompetent and corrupt. He has no influence outside the capitol. And in the recent election he stole the victory with obvious ballot stuffing. Do we really want to support this guy with the bodies of our soldiers? It is a total disgrace and an embarrassment to President Obama.

So far our occupation of Afghanistan has been a total failure. For once the American people are right and are opposed to sending more troops there. We are not bringing peace to that country nor are we making ourselves more secure. We should plan on getting out in less than a year. Cheney has criticized Obama publicly for “dithering” on sending more troops. Biden’s reaction to Cheney’s remark was “Who cares?” It is not right to kill more soldiers and civilians in order to parry right wing political attacks. There is a morality here that needs to be considered.

Remember when President Reagan, the Republican Party icon, introduced the term “freedom fighters” to the political scene in connection with the Nicaraguan Contras which we supported with American dollars. What Reagan did was illegal and he came very close to impeachment.

A well known comic satirist raised the following question: If crime fighters fight crime and fire fighters fight fires, what do freedom fighters fight? Think about it. Let’s get out of Afghanistan before we sink any deeper into the quagmire.


References:

George Carlin
Hightower Low Down
Znet