Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Elizabeth Warren said at least one interesting thing during the debate last night, but failed to follow it to its logical conclusion.

She said, “Asking the military to solve a problem that is un-solvable by military means is putting them in an impossible situation.”  I agree.  But let’s look a little deeper.

When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan for whatever reason they used at the time, they quickly found out that they were in the middle of a hornet’s nest of tribal allegiances and feudal relationships that paid no attention to things like the United Nations.  The Russians lost their asses in the attempt, and part of the result was the fall of the SSR concept.  The USA, of course, being locked in cold war with Russia, slipped lots of money and weaponry to the guerilla opposition, who turned out to be conservative Islamic radicals for whom a martyrdom death was something to be looked for, and who became the Taliban after the Russians left, and quickly turned the country into an Islamic Fiefdom where Sharia Law ruled everything, and the warlords who controlled the various demesnes remained in power while the Taliban took over the government.

They in turn sheltered Al Qaeda and supported their goal of punishing the US for our previous transgressions in the middle east.  We pissed off the Shiites when we overthrew the President of Iran, and we pissed off the Sunnis when we jammed Isreal down their throats and took their land upon which to build it.  Now they all hate us, surprise, surprise.  At least we didn’t take all their land and put them on a reservation.

Underlying all of it is a well-known but mostly ignored tenet of all Islam, that the entire world is destined to become Muslim, no matter if they have to kill us all to get there.  The difference between the mainstream Muslims and the radicals is the mainstream guys are willing to wait for us to come around on our own, while the radicals have already started the killing.  They share many common beliefs, among them that a slaughtered animal must be killed by slitting its throat while it still is conscious and letting it die from loss of blood.

But back to Afghanistan, everybody knows or should know what will happen as soon as our troops leave the country.  The Taliban will come back into power and butcher the politicians, and the country will again fall back to feudal times.  Women will again become chattel slaves, the warlords will continue to sell the opium and have their dancing boys, and death will come quickly and easily for the slightest transgression.

So how is this America’s problem?  Other than the fact that we sorta caused the whole thing in our usual sneaky underhanded way?

The answer is, it’s not.  What we should do is pack up our tents and haul our asses and all of our weapons the hell out of that country and wish them well.  Or, maybe we should issue an M-16 and a case of ammo to every household in the country, then sit back and see who comes out on top.  Whoever that is will be the government of Afghanistan, if it doesn’t break apart into Persians and Kurds, or Sunnis and Shiites.

And remember the final scenes of the abandonment of Saigon, with the helicopters on the roof?  The only honorable thing to do in this situation is to invite every single Afghani citizen who fears life under the Taliban a visa to the USA.  Every single one of them.

What it really is is a United Nations problem.  Unfortunately, the leaders of the United Nations, the Security Council, have forced the will of the powerful minority on the helpless majority while the continuing exploitation of Third World resources for the benefit of rich First World elites goes on behind the scenes.

So the United Nations doesn’t have enough pull to make anything happen.  Every other country with troops on the ground or planes in the air needs to back the hell out of there, pronto, and let the Afghanis settle their own future.  If the Taliban wins, why would that not be expected?  Did we not invade them on the pretext of their hospitality to Al Qaeda and destroy their country with bombs, fighters and civilians alike?

After they settle down and get organized, they should provide us with a bill for the damage to their sovereign country, which we should promptly pay.  Sure, they’re assholes, and they treat their people like shit, and that offends us, but you know what?  They don’t think much of us, either.  We’ve spilled a lot of blood over there, and spilled blood carries memories that last a long time.

Many years ago, the British decided, “Piss on this, those rowdy Americans can have their damn colony, and to hell with ‘em!”  They came to this conclusion for a good reason.  We need to come to the same conclusion with Afghanistan, and Iraq, and Israel, and a whole bunch of other places.  It’s up to the people who live there to accept or reject their own government.  Anybody who steps in automatically becomes the enemy, and we don’t need to be the world’s enemy.  :-{)}