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The Tragic US Strategy in Afghanistan
Either the administration has deluded itself or it can't muster the courage to tell the American public the truth.
Albert Einstein famously defined insanity as “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” If that doesn’t accurately describe the more than nine-year-old U.S. war in Afghanistan, I don’t know what does.
The results of the surge of tens of thousands of additional troops into the “graveyard of empires” are now evident. More soldiers, humanitarian workers, and civilians were killed in 2010 than any year since the United States invaded. One tally put the dead at more than 10,000 last year alone.
At least 120,000 Afghans have also been driven from their homes due to the violence over the last year and a half. I visited Charahi Qambar in December, the largest of some 30 camps for the internally displaced around Kabul, and was horrified by the living conditions there. These refugees call simple mud huts home and lack adequate access to food, clean water, education, or work. The most vulnerable, especially the children, often die from the cold during the bitter winters.
Meanwhile, with the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan serving as one of its most effective recruiting tools, the Taliban has grown exponentially--from an estimated 7,000 in 2006 to 35,000 or 40,000 today, according to NATO.
But after the release of the December review of the war, President Obama nonetheless declared that the United States is “on track to achieve our goals.” Either the administration has deluded itself or it can't muster the courage to tell the American public the truth.
The entire city of Kabul, which the National Intelligence Estimates said is one of the few “ink spots” where there is relative security, feels like a prison. On almost every block there is at least one Afghan in camouflage with an AK-47. Concrete blast walls, sand bags, and razor wire are everywhere. I was frisked for weapons not only at the airport, but also at a nice restaurant. Despite all of these efforts, Kabul is far from safe. This was made painfully clear during my trip when suicide bombers attacked a bus, killing five Afghan army officers and wounding nine in the first major attack in the capital since May.
Unfortunately, violence is only one of many threats faced by the Afghan people. A perpetual cloud of dust and smog engulfs Kabul, which Afghan authorities say kills 3,000 people in the city every year. The country is plagued by corruption, which the United States too often supports, and desperate poverty. As a westerner, you can’t walk more than a block or two without being approached by small children begging for money. Tragically, these children are in some ways the lucky ones. Afghanistan has the worst infant mortality in the world; one in four children won’t make it to their fifth birthday. Life expectancy for those who do survive is an abominable 44 years.
If the Obama administration is truly concerned with rooting out the Taliban and undermining terrorism, it must rethink its goals in Afghanistan and dramatically change gears. Rather than pointing to an ever-higher Taliban body count as a sign of success, the U.S. should stop backing the corrupt warlords that currently dominate the Afghan government, remove its troops from the country, and redirect the more than $2 billion per week that is currently being squandered on the war to meet the basic needs of everyday Afghans. Only when the people of Afghanistan are free from foreign occupation and have a functioning, democratic government--along with real hope for a better life--will the lure of the Taliban and extremism disappear.
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18 Comments so far
Show All"...redirect the more than $2 billion per week that is currently being squandered on the war to meet the basic needs of everyday Afghans."
Hey, how about redirecting to money to meet the needs of everyday Americans?
From everything I've read about Afghanistan, the people there would much rather have us just get the f*ck out than have us try and "help" them anymore.
I know, I know, that's crazy talk.
We all have to sacrifice.
Our Owners want to make Afghanistan as accessible to them, as is their Homeland.
Ah. Nothing like smashing a country into ruin, then looting and raping the population.
It's the American way!
(Good thing I live in an American client state, Canada, where we have our resources stolen in nice clean LEGAL ways, instead of being bombed back to the Industrial Revolution...)
Non Serviam - I will not serve.
"If the Obama administration is truly concerned with rooting out the Taliban and undermining terrorism"
Obama is the current servitor of the US-centric globalist scumbag class occupying the Oval Office. He is their functionary. He slaughters at their command. They are mutant monsters and they will not cease their evil until they are dead.
Well... mutants is a little large for me, how about sociopath mass murdering criminals who...KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING, instead?
You are right on the mark in relation to my own assessment of our mutual predicament;
-when was the last time you had an honest conversation with a pathological liar?
No, they will not cease their crimes against humanity and our planet until they are eliminated. Fact, not fiction. To any reader; name one single historical instance in which a known sociopath mass murdering killer willingly submitted to impartial justice and the consequences of their crimes.
Anybody?
The enemy is here among us, on a global, not "American" scale, and he must be struck. Every way possible. By any means possible. At any given moment. At any given place.
The great thing is that, as any revolutionary movement, this is a guerilla war for the time being, until such time as. The enemy never knows where, when, how, or whom is striking them at any given moment...
Any fool who still pretends they live in a free nationstate of ANY name(an oxymoron of course)with fair and equal human rights/opportunity is either an accomplice or just merely in the way.
America as we knew it is dead. So are all nationstates as the concept is as outdated as it is a falsehood. The future will be one nation, ie the planet, and one people, ie homo supericus. Either the criminals gain control of our planet or holistic reason prevails.
It can only be decided by the actions of the citizens of the planet.
- If the Obama administration is truly concerned with rooting out the Taliban and undermining terrorism, -
Public Law 107-40: its stated goal is the prevention (forever and ever) of future terrorism by enemies to be named later.
Bush named al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
Obama: 'that authorization still exists'.
- it must rethink its goals in Afghanistan -
How do you get an Empire to understand that its goals are unachievable and self-defeating, when so many individual members of that Empire enrich themselves by its actions?
- and dramatically change gears. -
How do we stop this Cyclopean behemoth that crushes the innocents in its path as it staggers after supposed future terrorists?
- the U.S. should -
How many times have we read 'should'?
There is no stopping this insanity by appealing to those who profit by it.
There is no stopping this insanity unless we confront the insanity of its legal basis, P.L. 107-40.
As always, I apologize to those who are as bored of reading my repetitive rant as I am of writing it.
However, the insanity goes on, and the law is ignored. No coincidence.
But you don't understand, the more people we kill the more they will fear us and the more they fear us the more likely it will be that we can get what we want from them. That's the way empires have always worked. It doesn't really natter who we kill. The civilian populace understands it the way it is meant, as collective retaliation and punishment for resistance. We've noticed already how much more compliant the civilians are. I know we've broken their will, now we can get them to go with the program.
"If the Obama administration is truly concerned with rooting out the Taliban and undermining terrorism, it must rethink its goals in Afghanistan and dramatically change gears."
To do that it would have to be a government of the people, not an oligarchy.
It was the PNAC neocons who advocated the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan as part of a larger plan to achieve military dominance in the Middle East and Central Asia with the primary goal being the control and exploitation of hydrocarbon resources.
A brief background on the PNAC folks:
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Project_for_the_New_American_Century
Afghanistan is the only pipeline route that Big Oil could possibly create to market the oil and gas resources of Central Asia to various Asian nations with India being one of the primary markets.
There was a time in Washington when the neocons were thought of as the "crazies" but now their policies are fully supported by Congress and the White House. Obomber is simple furthering the policies set in motion by the neocons and the Bush years.
Crazy has become normal. Major war crimes are now part of American foreign policy.
And what a surprise, many of the neocons hold investments in the MIC and oil industries, as do members of Congress. And of course they are bankrupting our Federal budget and draining the American economy while lining their pockets.
To call the administration delusional would actually be a compliment. At least that would provide a minimal excuse to perpetuate this travesty of a "war".
The real problem is a total lack of spine sufficient to tell the corporate donors what to do with their money when this whole thing is called off. This has nothing to do with telling the American people the truth--they already know it.
The truth of the disease that afflicts us all is certainly self evident, across the entire planet with no difference between Chinese, Iranian, Arab, Israeli, French, British, German, American, Russian, et al name em all nationstates.
Nationstates exist for the profits of their current masters and have not a single jot to do with what the planet needs, what humanity needs;
Oh, yes, to those millions of homeless mothers and their children the truth is obvious. To those millions upon millions of fathers who cannot provide security and grace to their families through no fault of their own, the truth is as obvious as the lies.
What is NOT being portrayed, displayed, provided, disclosed, etc, is the MEANS AND METHODS that can be used on multliple levels concurrently and continuously on a global scale to worst the criminals among us.
May all humanity bless Wikileaks and their leadership for their true journalism and genuine efforts to provide truth instead of propaganda. They have definitely demonstrated one means with which ANYBODY POSSESSING CRITICAL INFORMATION concerning individuals, corporations, government staffers, UN representatives, can easily arrange for that critically important fact to be broadcast across the planet in a single instant.
However, that will not get the job done, it will merely antagonize the enemy into further reprehensible acts...which will further inflame the global revolt already in motion.
What WILL most assuredly gain instant results, as you may have noticed, is when those individuals responsible or complicit, are made to feel the personal and direct consequences of their mass murdering actions or support of same.
In order for actions instead of words to gain momentum, all peoples wherever they find themselves must seek those targets of opportunity most accessible to them in their current capacities, and take action thereafter by means which only they with personal knowledge of the local ground can decide upon.
Now just multiply that single action for justice locally by several million, across the planet, and you surely get the drift.
Segregated yet unified.
Disjointed yet mobilized.
Assymetric yet focused.
Aware yet uninformed.
While all that is taking place and building to the crescendo, it would seem logical for groups to start connecting in order to assemble a global "shadow administration" (note I did NOT say "government", for a society of equals doesn´t need outside governance, it requires rational management from within) in order that an ecological, logistical, and social plan for our planet of equal citizens can be launched as the criminals structures fall apart as quickly as possible.
As for those who still try to claim that such is utopian, where did you get that information and who benefits from the criminal system remaining in place?
A lack of spine is either remedied, or removed as an impedance, by direct contact with the enemy.
As the Almighty is my witness, if I as a human being cannot strike the enemy that is mass murdering the innocent for a personal material profit and in the process ruining every hope of a better world, then there is simply nothing worth living for.
Such, for me, is the very essence, the PURPOSE of life itself.
Free the planet.
Save humanity.
Worst the wicked.
Life is good.
B
We must keep killing them as they still do not get it. We have to build that Pipeline that Kissinger and Unocal had an investment in at one time. The American Corporate Media is to scared of the results if they should print a story re the Pipeline.
Obomber is on the side of the Pipeline.
His friends in the Oil Companies need that pipeline to raid the other Asian countries of their minerals. Who will tell the people?
While at the same time, newly-minted Senator Marco (Polo) Rubio, from right here in my state of Florida, bravely goes to Afghanistan and suggests we have to stay the course. Yeah, with a pre-fab photo-op staged event, he makes it sound and seem so very right to stay.
He should join up, don some combay fatigues, and patrol the Afghanistan that is described in this article. He'd be crying for his mommy to come rescue his spoon-fed ass within three days tops.
He is already serving the corporate fascist owners that own a piece of just about every other politician around-the MIC.
Bravely spoken, Marco, to quote that famous line from Ben-Hur...
RUSSIA WAS SMART ENOUGH TO GET OUT...AMERICA WILL LEAVE WHEN OUR PSEUDO LEADERSHIP REALIZE WE ARE TOO BROKE TO CONTINUE..whoever said reasoning was pointless when confronting insanity..had insight..americas foreign policy is a dream world cobbled by the insanity of shutins..
I believe the savvy ones know it is crumbling, but just want to grab everything they can on the way down.
Joe
President Obama is doing exactly what he promised during the campaign. I was active in the antiwar war movement during the Bush pandemic and could not believe how many progressives supported Obama. "The Real war in Afghanistan, cross border raids into Pakistan." didn't anyone listen?
Contrary to the article, the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan have been a big success at...
1. Enriching arms manufacturers and war contractors.
2. Creating an esprit de corps for the feeblemined.
3. Building patriotism because people are worried about their sons and daughters over there.
4. Creating fear of the Taliban and Al Qaeda and other Ayrabs, for which we have given up basic rights that date back to the 13th century.
5. Distracting us from bank fraud and transfer of assets to rich people (TARP).
6. Creating a severe drain on the budget, taking tax money from ordinary people and channeling it to those named in point 1.
7. Thus bankrupting states and cities, providing a reason for "shared sacrifice", layoffs, wage cuts, new taxes and fees in the guise of payment for fire, EMT and other social services, dismantling all social programs, including education, employment and infrastructure at the local level.
8. Implementing a collateral eugenics program on the Afghan people.
This is how empires die, by overreaching conquests that drain the country, while enriching the patrician class. The attempt to conquer Afghanistan has not been a success for the ordinary people of the US and Afghanistan, but who cares about them?
Joe
Precisely!
Excellent!
That is why I, regardless of whether or not many of you can face the awful facts of our sordid existence as wage slaves to criminal enterprise, constantly state that the battle for the planet must be taken "directly and personally" to the leadership of the enemy of human brotherhood.
They will not cease, let alone listen to reason, until they are worsted once and for all.
That is the future we are progressing towards, and the longer it takes many of you to rise up and be citizens instead of sheep, the harder and more deadly the war will become.
Joe is right entirely, seen from the criminal´s perspective the plan is working perfectly. However and thankfully, the criminal class never was good at planning for the longterm, as history has so amply demontraated, and they are not able to comprehend that their so called strategy for hegemony will result in their own destruction after an initial period of frenzied murder, rape, theft, and partially successful lies.
Seen from a globally oriented human being´s p.o.v., they have failed already, which is simply not the case, as you so correctly present above. The results of their failure have yet to develop into their full potential to save the planet, alter the parameters of human coexistence, and eliminate the barbarians.