Posted on 07/16/2008 12:24:51 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
The latest trend in political punditry with respect to Afghanistan focuses on its "historically unconquerable" nature - highlighted by a long list of unsuccessful foreign efforts paraded in newspaper columns across the nation. The most compelling of these is the attempt to draw hard and fast conclusions from the Soviet Union's 1979 invasion that ended with its ignominious withdrawal a decade later.
The first, and most egregious, error in this approach is to refer to everything the West is doing in Afghanistan as a foreign invasion, replete with the imposition of foreign ideas, control and values. The simple truth is that Afghanistan enjoyed, in both presidential and parliamentary elections, a free and uncorrupt vote that was spared the violence and intimidation that the poor citizens of Zimbabwe and Myanmar (to name a couple) can only dream of. That is an unassailable difference, no matter how pundits might wish to reconstruct history.
Recall that the Soviets, like many before them, tried to impose an urban, untraditional, top-down system with leaders of their own choosing, effectively turning Afghanistan into a vassal state reflective of its own politics. The Soviet puppet, Babrak Karmal, was certainly not elected, while his not-so-legitimate predecessor was executed in the coup d'état that brought him to power. No one can suggest, with any seriousness, that Canada and its allies in Afghanistan are trying to create an adjunct state in their own image or with imposed values, save for a modicum of equality and freedom. To equate the current situation with the former is simply dishonest.
(Excerpt) Read more at theglobeandmail.com ...
The toys we drop from planes are not hiding explosives to blow off little kids hands. The people know the difference...
Good article. The real shocker comes when you read the “comments” section at the end, bottom right. Man, those Canucks hate us Yanks!
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