We just need to get out

11/23/09

I have come to the conclusion that we need to get out of Afghanistan.  I just don’t see what good can come of our continued presence there.  Of course, I say this knowing full well that we haven’t even pulled our troops out of Iraq yet – and that still needs to happen.

 I wrote about this issue a few of weeks ago.  At that time I was conflicted.  I no longer am and basically agree with our Ambassador to Afghanistan Eikenberry.

Here is why I think we should pull out and deal with the Taliban and Al Qaida separately from the government of Afghanistan.  The main problem as Eikenberry points out is that a large segment of the Afghanies don’t feel the Karzai government is legitimate.  It is definitely corrupt and that corruption extends through to the armed forces and intelligence gathering agencies within the Afghan military.  If we continue to tie our efforts against Al Qaida and the Taliban to the activities of the Afghan government we set ourselves up for three big problems.

The first is that our military is probably being misused by the Afghany government for their own ends. The big problem is corruption. Karzai’s own brother is involved with the drug lords and may even be one himself. And he is one of the main guys giving us information on who and where we should be striking.  Opening up this chilling possibility.  Our military may be inadvertently assisting a drug cartel fight their turf wars.  We cannot and should not allow our military to be misused in this way.

Second: if we allow ourselves to be a party to and military support for the sort of corruption that exists in the Karzai government the perception of what exactly American intentions are will be warped by that misuse. This will not help us win the ideas war that we need to be waging against extreme Islam. Nor will it discourage Al Qaida from viewing us as part of the problem.

The final reason we need to get out is because our very presence there is counter productive.  At the moment there are 4 major armed military presences in Afghanistan.  Foreign troops, the Afghany military, the drug/war lord militias and the Taliban/Al Qaida forces.

What role the US military can or should play in the dynamic that is Afghanistan is questionable.   Since some of the drug/war lords have become intertwined with the government, the government can no longer be trusted to protect the average Afghany from drug/war lord violence.  If we use our military to support the Afghany government, we are actually leaving the Afghanies with only one option to oppose the corrupt government and their drug lord pals.  And that means that we will inadvertently be giving an opening to the Taliban/Al Qaida to win the sympathies of the average Afghany to their agenda.  And that would be bad because the Taliban/Al Qaida agenda includes the destruction of America.

I feel for the Afghanys, but I don’t see how we can help them.  I think the sooner we get out the sooner the Taliban/Al Qaida will be forced to admit that their agenda has very little to do with us and everything to do with imposing an extreme religious agenda on their fellow Afghanies.  And since we won’t be propping up a corrupt government it will be very hard for us to be blamed for their bad deeds.  And hopefully the Afghanies will have more incentive to throw those bums out and will be better able to if the government is not being propped up by our military.

Basically – I think the sooner they are forced to deal with these issues themselves, the sooner the conflict there will be resolved.  And it is more likely to be resolved to our liking if our troops aren’t on the ground supporting corrupt drug/war lords on behalf of the government.

It also doesn’t make me feel good that almost all of the support for keeping our troops there and supporting Karzai regardless of the problems is coming from Family members. (sigh)