Posted on 03/27/2017 9:20:36 AM PDT by Lorianne
Afghanistan has long been called the “graveyard of empires,” the site of failed invasions. But the U.S. – in its 15-plus-year endeavor – seems determined to dig its own grave there ___
Fifteen years and counting. America’s longest war keeps getting longer. The very duration of the expedition, with an end no more in sight now than it had been at any of several points one could have chosen over the last several years, ought to indicate the need for a fundamental redirection of policy. And yet there continue to be calls, including from influential members of Congress, to sustain and even enlarge the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan.
U.S. Marines patrol street in Shah Karez in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, on Feb. 10. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Staff Sgt. Robert Storm)
That campaign has now continued under three U.S. presidents, two Afghan presidents, too many U.S. military commanders to count, and a variety of operational strategies associated with the different generals. Different levels of U.S. troops also have been tried, with the peak of just over 100,000 American troops reached in 2011.
Something approaching peace and stability will come to Afghanistan the only way it ever has come to Afghanistan in the past: through deals reached among the different factions, power centers, and ethnic groups within Afghanistan. External military intervention does not negate or obviate that process, and instead becomes the object of Afghan resistance to outside interference. It is not for nothing that the place is called the graveyard of empires.
The shape of any deals reached among Afghan factions matters relatively little to the United States. One need make no apologies for borrowing from old speeches in describing the current conflict in Afghanistan as a quarrel in a faraway country between people of whom we know nothing. Unlike the circumstances in which that phrase was first used, there is no hostile and threatening power poised to exploit passivity on our part.
The Afghan Taliban never have been interested in international terrorism. Their focus always has been on the social and political structure of Afghanistan. The past alliance with al-Qa’ida was one of convenience, in which the payoff for the Taliban was assistance in prosecuting their civil war against Afghan opponents.
U.S. Marines leaving a compound at night in Afghanistan’s Helmand province. (Defense Department photo)
There is nothing special about Afghanistan, distinguishing it from many other strife-ridden places such as Yemen or Somalia, that connects it today with a terrorist threat against U.S. interests.
9/11 itself was the work of Arabs, not Afghans. And with the gloves having been taken off after 9/11, the Taliban know, as everyone else does, that if anything at all like the 2001 al-Qa’ida presence were to begin being re-established in Afghanistan, the United States would promptly bomb the heck out of it.
SNIP
Sounds like the Russians want to move back in... imo let them have it.
Turn Afghanistan over to India
Some are more willing than others to cooperate on the amount of opium permitted to flood our country and kill our people
Its a business arrangement, you know
HYENA ROAD
The Russians aren’t there to install a communist regime this time
They are there to make a deal and set up an arrangement
They will work with whoever agrees to stabilize and control the terrorists and drugs into Russia
Looks like they and the Taliban and other regional players (Pakistan) are working out an arrangement, vs ISIS
Ideology has little to do with it, this is real politik
I thought the Chinese bought the mineral rights. They can put all those men they have left over from their 1 child policy. Muslum women are better than none at all.
Time for the US to bail. Let the camel dung fall where it will.
GW sure made a mess for us. Get out of Afghanistan ASAP, nothing to gain there, they were not responsible for 911, neither were Iraq, it was the Saudi’s who we haven’t punished.
GW’s legacy gave us Obola.
Time to leave Afghanistan! We did what we could—let the Chinese or Indians have a try at civilizing the place.
This article acts as if there are body bags coming back daily from Afghanistan. Many Afghanis there want us to stay, they saw what happened in Iraq after 2011. As long as Al Quada is hanging around, we need to assist the nascent Afghani government in getting rid of them. Just like doing a tour in Iraq, not the most wonderful and exotic of locations to do a deployment to (like Germany, Japan or Okinawa) but it’s got to be done.
It’s a threat to America the same way it was 16 years ago. If we leave, allow the government to fall and allow a lawless area to fester, then the terrorists will fill the void. That’s what happened in Iraq post 2011. How many times does this scenario have to be played out for us to realize it’s a threat to us? We’re not talking about 100,000 troops here, it’s a small amount of troops to tamp the crazies down.
Most of Afghanistan is a lawless area.
Always has been.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.