Comments on: About Afghanistan…

By: Thoughts on Afghanistan, redux

Thoughts on Afghanistan, redux — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:44:09 +0000

[...] for him on the right. They’re on the left, the right, in front, and behind him. As I wrote before, there are no easy or formulaic answers to the question of how to approach [...]

By: Ashleigh Burroughs

Ashleigh Burroughs — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:14:06 +0000

War is not the answer. Economic options beyond poppy growing need to be made available to those searching for a better way to live. Education – for girls, too – and micro-loans and agricultural cooperative extension programs will do more than 50,000 American 20-somethings with rocket launchers and drones could ever accomplish. We went in looking for a “one-and-done” solution …. Pres. Bush should've read about Alexander the Great before committing our fighting forces…. the Afghans were the only nation to rebuff Alex and Bucephalus, after all.

By: Ashleigh Burroughs

Ashleigh Burroughs — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:14:06 +0000

By: Myrna Weinreich

Myrna Weinreich — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:44:23 +0000

You're right about not wanting to be Pres Obama. But I'm glad he's the one making the final decision. The people who are brainstorming on the issue aren't bad choices either. And the mountain climb continues….

By: txvoodoo

txvoodoo — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:27:12 +0000

And again, I agree

I sincerely hope their are people far smarter than I, and far more knowledgeable about regional issues than I, working on the solutions.

By: Karoli

Karoli — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:21:56 +0000

I'm not a fan of crop substitution, but it's worth noting that in 2001 (when the Taliban was in power), the opium exports dropped to nearly zero. That proves to me that a strong government (not necessarily totalitarian, but strong) can influence the opium trade in a negative fashion. In a 2009 survey done in June, over 80% of Afghans said they had faith in the Afghan Army, and over 70% in the Afghan police. That tells me that there has been progress in training and raising local support for a strong government. Karzai, in my opinion, is not the strongest leader Afghanistan could have. He is, however, what they've got for the time being. The question is whether or not a counterinsurgency effort could build the Afghan army and police force to a point where, when combined with strong leadership, they could actually be successful at self-governance and eradication (or at least, strong diminishment) of the opium trade in favor of other moneymaking ventures.

I totally agree with you about the cultural aspects being important and being a strength Obama has on his side. One of the reasons I wrote this post was a) to start a discussion about the different aspects of this decision and b) to make the case that if he does choose to send additional troops, it's a decision made within the frame of a cultural understanding. He's a very intelligent man who is listening to all sides of the debate. I don't believe he will just willy-nilly send troops in there without a plan, a goal, and a timeline.

By: txvoodoo

txvoodoo — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:14:11 +0000

Excellent points, all.

And I really don't know if we *can* undo the damage. Part of my hesitation is that I feel that many of the decision-makers (or, at the least, the people giving intel to the decision makers) are thinking mostly in terms of military success. Afghanistan is a crazy-quilt of complicated cultural paradigms, and has been for centuries. Call me crazy, but I almost feel like they need a historian on the team for perspective.

One failing the US has had w/ regards to Afghanistan is working on solutions that are bandaids, rather than looking at its history & potential futures.

The post you linked to? Talked about subsidizing the opium growers to not grow. That works in the U.S. I have some recollection of it being tried in Afghanistan, and what happened was, they took the $ and kept growing/selling. That's what they've always done.

The US (both D & R leaders) has a distressing tendency to try and apply solutions that would work here, but not in other cultures. This is one reason I voted for Obama - he has much deeper understanding of other cultures. But he's one man.

By: Karoli

Karoli — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:06:20 +0000

My problem is that much of what has happened over the past 30 years is the clear result of a chaotic and self-serving American policy there. We support them before we don't. We neglect them before we pay attention before we neglect them again. Until 2005, we had a real opportunity there, but because the Bush administration deemed Iraq more important than Afghanistan, they simply didn't pay attention. Combine that with the commonly advanced meme that it's an ungovernable country (it's not), and confusion reigns.

Really, for me, the question is whether we can undo some of the damage done, and in the process, use leverage in Afghanistan to stabilize the region.

By: txvoodoo

txvoodoo — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:45:17 +0000

I am a mere citizen here, without indepth knowledge of the issue. So my reactions are, by necessity, gut reactions based on watching Afghanistan and our interactions with it for 20-30ish years.

While everything you stay about leaving Afghanistan is true, I don't see any way that it won't happen even if we stay, based on the nation's history. By staying, we provide the warlords & Taliban with a target/boogyman, allowing them to recruit, etc.

I really have no answers. The thing is, I'm not sure that those more knowledgeable about this do, either.

By: Tweets that mention About Afghanistan… -- Topsy.com

Tweets that mention About Afghanistan… -- Topsy.com — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:52:24 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Karoli and Karoli, Nicole D. Collier. Nicole D. Collier said: RT @tweetmeme About Afghanistan… http://bit.ly/2rqAGP [...]