Afghanistan, More Than a Quagmire

THE QUAGMIRE IN AFGHANISTAN IS MORAL…..AND POLITICAL……AND MILITARY….AND NATIONAL!!

Some would argue that in war and politics there is no morality, only winners and losers. But, at least officially, on paper and enjoying international or global accpeptance, there are some moral standards that we agree on that prevents humanity from slipping totally into the deep abyss of human immorality: treaties, conventions, protocols, statements, understandings – a network of morally based agreements that build a quilt work of commitments that normally operate in the protection not only of speciific populations who, in war and politics, are unprotected, but also of all of us so that wars do not just become one huge crime against humanities instead of conflicts in which there are crimes against humanity committed.

The Old Testament teaches that if the nation acts unjustly in its dealings with the neighbors, the nation will suffer negative consequences and that to renew their ability to take actions which are just and, thus, favor the nation, repentance is needed. Otherwise, the quagmire deepens and hope for actually escaping the ultimate consequences are lessened. Even if you are not a person who gives much credibility to Scriptures, you have to admit that history could be interpreted to teach us the same lesson.

The quagmire that awaits President Obama in Afghanistan is extreme because he is entering a conflict which was wrong from the beginning. It was morally wrong, it was politically wrong and it was militarily wrong. And, then we did it again in Iraq…I belive that is six wrongs, which definitely do not make a right.

Afghanistan and Iraq were both wrong morally because neither nation attacked us. The argument that the Taliban sponsored Osama Bin Laden is spurious. The United States gave more material aid to Osama Bin Laden than the Taliban ever did. The Taliban beat out Al Quaeda for control of Afghanistan and then made a deal to let them stay so as to keep the peace.

Afghanistan and Iraq were both politically wrong because neither country is a strategic threat to our national security. They are the kind of nations that can cause problems, but not big ones for us. They dod not have nuclear weapons nor any way to strategically attack our country. So, going to war in both countries was a diversion from real national interest. This is due in part because we overestimated the threat of Al Quaeda to us in reaction to 9/11 and forgot about who really could harm us.

Militarily it was a mistake because we did not win either war and did not achieve any strategic goals for our national security or out long term interests. What we did incurr was huge debt, a destabilized Middle East, the empowerment of Iran and thousands of soldiers who wil. Suffer cosniderable physical and psychological trauma for an undetermined amount of time into the future.

In Iraq there only three major groups to deal with and we have paid them all off so that we can have the appearances necessary to leave the country as though we accomplished something there. In Afghanistan there are innumerable tribes, war lords most of whom have more money that we have from the opium trade. Exactly what would be the advantage for any of them to arrange a deal with us? In Iraq the incentive was provided by the fact that our presence was overwhelming. So the quid pro quid was that while we cannot defeat you, you cannot fight each other for control of the country while we are here. So, it is in the interest of the Shiites, the Sunnis and the Kurds to allow us the face-saving ability to leave so that they can get on with the inevitable internal conflict that comes when the international community insists that three countries become one. In Afghanistan thre is nothing to fight over like oil and except for some skirmishes over boundaries on the edges of each war lord’s territory, no need to get us out there for them to continue their way of being. We are not a major factor in their life, so making a deal to get us to leave is just not worth it.

So, as we never admitted to the moral mistake, we cannot think clearly or talk transparantly about the others and, therefore, get trapped into making mistkes that make the quagmire deeper, like deciding to expand our troop presence in Afghanistan.

As we are not likely to admit the moral mistake and we will continue to debate the political mistake and the military mistakes among all the “I know it all” experets in the think tanks and the Congress, we need a face saving way to get out of the country and that, is why, I would assume that the current administration is floating the idea that we might talk with the Taliban. The Taliban, it turns out are the only ones who need something from us and, therefore, might be able to give us the face saving measures we need to leave the country.

The Taliban are not insurgents although they can fight like insurgents. The Taliban’s goal is to govern and they have a program for doing, however, misguided it is. And they have base in Afghanistan, expciall in the south, where, if the US?NATO forces were not there, they would easily take control of without any siginificant opposition from the central governement which is holed up in the capital and the Northern Alliance which defeated them with US strategic help is now disarticulated for fighting purposes as they have made their peace with the central government in return for the central government not bothering them and their exercise of power in their respective kingdoms.

You can see the face saving already going on in the quotes in the NY Times from Daniel Markey, former expert (sic) on South Asia in the Bush administration “If by talking, you can divide your enemies, talk. But if by talking, you’re just giving your enemies breathing space, then don’t talk.” Come on, we need to talk to the Taliban so we have a breathing space.” If the talks had taken place with any real seriousness before the war started, we may have never gone into Afghanistan, but like with Iraq, the Bush administration had not time for talking, so they set an insulting deadline and when the Taliban didn’t meet it, launched the Northern Alliance attack, compelte with US special forces and air support. The Taliban did what the Iraqis did – retreated to the hills, first of Afghanistan and then Pakstan so as to survive and fight another day. Time is not a problem for the Taliban as it is for Bush and many Americans. They have been fighting for decades, sometimes winning and tometimes losing, but always surviving.

It is billed as an attempt to split the Taliban and therfore decrease the violence or even that someone will deliver up Osama Bin Laden which, I don’t think, would be against the Taliban conscience if the price is right.

So, let us hope that we still have enough left to give the Taliban that they will help leave with dignity.

That will solve one problem but the not the larger one – the lack of repentance. The last time we made the moral mistake, complicated by the poitical and military was Vietnam and what the lack of clearly admitting our mistakes cost us was that we did it again in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Getting out of Afghanistan is good for the nation, but it does not get us out of the quagmire. That would involve a neogiation with ourselves to see if we really want to come clean and get smart.