How Should Obama Deal With Afghanistan?
 

The past empires of Greece, Persia, France and Russia all tried to unify and control Afghanistan, and they all failed at an unbelievable expense to their militaries and their fortunes. Will it be any different with the United States?

...US Soldiers in Afghanistan

Columnist Anne Applebaum of the Washington Post wrote an interesting column recently asking; "Will Obama Fight For Afghanistan?". With the allegations of fraud in the election of the Afghani president and with the low Afghan voter turn-outs due to the violence throughout Afghanistan´s more populated areas, it´s a fair question.

We can all remember back when the war in Afghanistan, in going after Osama bin Laden and the al Qaeda was referred to as the "good war". And we can also recall when the Bush-Cheney administration´s war in Iraq, with the WMD and nuclear lies was called the "bad war". But the reality is that during the election campaign, "candidate" Obama did in fact, commit his support for the war in Afghanistan and for going after Osama and al Qaeda. Unfortunately, as is usual when long periods of time are allowed to pass, the president is now "caught between a rock and a hard place" as the situation in Afghanistan has changed.

The first change occurred when Osama bin Laden and the al Qaeda moved their operation into the "difficult-to-reach" mountainous regions of the Afghan neighbor, Pakistan. And of course, when going after Osama and al Qaeda with US cruise missiles or unmanned drones, more Pakistani´s are usually killed than are al Qaeda insurgents. This rightfully upsets the local Pakistani´s. And being that Pakistan also has nuclear weapons with a "not-so-stable" government and military, the situation is tense at best.

On top of all this, the conservative, war-hawk and op-ed columnist George Will has rightfully pointed out that US involvement in Afghanistan has lasted longer than America´s participation in both World War I and World War II, combined. And this does not even consider that in over 2000 years of its existence, no nation has ever conquered Afghanistan. Occupied, yes. Conquered, never. In fact, going back 2,400 years to Alexander the Great, even his empire could not fully conquer Afghanistan.

So with all of this hind-sight and knowledge for what has not occurred in the past, what´s President Obama to do now?

First, personally I would rent Mike Nichol´s movie "Charlie Wilson´s War" and use it for understanding just how the US helped the Afghans run the Soviet Union out of Afghanistan.

And, we should then carefully watch and listen to the last minutes of the movie that shows how the US abandoned the Afghan people after the Soviets left Afghanistan. This part of the movie clearly explains how this abandonment by the US eventually spawned and supported what eventually became Afghanistan´s extreme Taliban leadership. Perhaps that knowledge will give us an Idea for how to help the real Afghani´s get their country back….?

It might also help change the attitude of the local Afghani´s for supporting the US for helping them change their largest local export crop from opium poppies to the Afghans´ own consumable food crops. Instead of building more military camps and outposts, the US could then help by building hospitals, schools and other life sustaining services instead of teaching them how to throw grenades and repair AK 47 assault rifles.

Unfortunately, this last week some individuals from the GOP such as Karl Rove and Sarah Palin were quoted as saying how much they supported President Obama´s increase of the US troops in Afghanistan. As expected however, there were no comments from these same individuals for their support in helping the average Afghani family in the Afghan capital city of Kabul whose existence today is mainly supported by their street begging.