Afghan Soldiers Killing Allies

The turn of events in Afghanistan is beginning to come full circle.  Although American forces entered the nation to find Al Qaida and Osama Bin Lama, foreign forces have had a military presence for a very long time, generations of long time. Each foreign power attempted to restore order for the country and give it a fresh chance at building a healthy and stable future. Tribal tensions have kept turmoil a common feature of the nation’s history. Taliban power continues tensions by playing an expert game of terrorism against their own people and anyone who dares to arrive on their turf. 

Why? Three reasons primarily. First, control over opium production and trade. It earns billions and makes death and destruction worthwhile to those who seek control. 

Second, religious extremism. I doubt this is about religion as much as it is about a power wedge that the Taliban uses as a reign of terror against its own people. If it is about religion, what a religion! 

And the third reason: chaos created by other regional nations seeking power. Iran is one such power player; and their friends in whatever guise they support Iran. It could be Syria three years from now; or a combination of Palestinian, Egyptian rump groups, Libya and Saudi Arabia. The Middle East is a complicated theater of war for three-thousand year-old grievances to play out endlessly. 

America has these interests: world stability of key regions, humanitarian idealism (don’t underestimate the power of American will to do good!), protection of oil markets and pricing (economic stability), and long term global peace through shared United Nations efforts. NATO and UN peace keeping forces have plied the Middle East for many decades to contain unrest and build bridges to peace. The might behind these two organizations, however, is American military manpower and materiel. So we are involved indirectly or directly.  

It is part of the role we take on in being the World’s Policeman. 

I think the time has come to end this game. We become sitting ducks every time. It is not accomplishing much. It buys time for calm but is not used by the recipients to build a more stable peace. Increasingly, American money and power is abused by locals to feather their own nest. Witness the war lords and tribal leaders in Afghanistan. Aid intended for the people is misrouted to make money by people in power, including the elected government officials.  

We have trained Afghan army forces. We have rebuilt infrastructure for their country. We have brought medical, housing and food relief to their population. But the opium fields continue to grow the crop of death. Money still goes vastly awry to the wrong people. And finally, their army is killing off our troops and those of the participating allies. Enough. Pull all the troops out of theater. Bring them home. Expose the underbelly of Afghanistan for what it is. At the same time, remove the need to cooperate with Pakistan in this same arena. Let the yowling dogs fight their own fight. 

Meanwhile, let our nation focus on our own problems for a while so we regain our strength and stability. We have become too thin in resources, resiliency and commitment. It is time to reset the game switches and require international cooperation to take the reins for a while. We need to regroup. 

The world is a dangerous place. We have heard that message often enough. Its weight doesn’t change just because we wish it to. Sometimes we place our nation in harm’s way for the wrong reasons. This is one of those times. Our initial goal has been achieved. Now it’s time to move on.

January 22, 2012