THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XIV, Issue # 91, April 24, 2012
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
AFGHANISTAN: THE DEFINITION OF MADNESS
By Alan Caruba
AFGHANISTAN & U.S. FOREIGN & NATIONAL SECURITY POLICY: CAN THE U.S.A. & THE NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION BE EXPECTED TO HAVE
A GREATER DEGREE OF SUCCESS IN AFGHANISTAN THAN PREVIOUS EXTERNAL ENTITIES INVADING THE COUNTRY & TRYING TO EXERCISE POLITICAL INFLUENCE
& CONTROL THEREIN? WILL AMERICA & NATO HAVE ANY MORE SUCCESS IN AFGHANISTAN THAN DID ALEXANDER THE GREAT IN 329 BC, GENGHIS
KHAN'S MONGOL ARMY IN 1221 BC, OR THE BRITISH EMPIRE IN 1839-1842 AD?
FULL STORY:
Why did George W. Bush invade Afghanistan? Answer: Occurring just after the Islamist terror attack of September 11, 2001, in which 2,977 Americans lost their
lives, a CIA team was inserted into Afghanistan fifteen days later to begin a campaign against the Taliban, who had allied with Al-Qa'ida and provided sanctuary
for Osama bin Laden while the attack was planned. A U.S. bombing campaign in Tora Bora followed but bin Laden escaped into Pakistan.
When bin Laden was killed in 2011 by a U.S. Navy SEAL team, he was living in Abbotabad, Pakistan, a mile away from the Afghan equivalent of West Point.
The initial reason for the military action ceased to be of any critical importance and the Bush administration pivoted to concentrate on removing Iraq’s Saddam
Hussein from power. Afghanistan became a backwater concern, but, in 2002, Bush announced “a Marshall Plan” for Afghanistan, intended to be a development
plan with security goals. In 2003, the U.S.A. invaded Iraq.
Insurgent activity in Afghanistan never ceased and military authority there switched to NATO, essentially to protect Kabul. It would be the organization’s first
operational commitment outside of Europe. Hamid Karzai became the hand-picked leader of a nation that Transparency International deemed the second most
corrupt in the world.
Afghanistan was and is a narco-economy. A result of U.S. involvement and due to a level of incompetance that defies comprehension, billions have been
expended on the military and development efforts that found their way into the hands of the Taliban and the corrupt Karzai government.
The previous effort by the then-Soviet Union to exercise influence began in the 1960s. In 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to support its puppet
government from an orthodox Muslim insurgent group known as the Taliban. The insurgency drew support from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and the U.S.A. Osama
bin Laden would create al-Qa'ida as part of the effort to drive the Russians out of Afghanistan.
From 1979 to 1989, the war proved so costly to the Soviet Union that it finally withdrew its troops. The war would contribute to the collapse of the Soviet Union
in 1991.
Having learned nothing from history, ancient and recent, the U.S.A. has just initiated an agreement with Afghanistan to provide support for the next decade. The
definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
According to an April 23, 2012, news report, “The partnership agreement ensures that the U.S. will continue to support Afghanistan even after the U.S. ends
major combat operations and scales back its development projects over the next two years” and “The strategic-partnership will commit the U.S. to more than a
decade of economic and financial support for the Afghan state, which is still battling a resilient Taliban-led insurgency.”
No external entity, from Alexander the Great in 329 BC, to Genghis Khan’s Mongol army in 1221 BC, to the British Empire in 1839-1842, has ever encountered
anything but defeat in Afghanistan. Add the U.S.A. and NATO to the list.
There is, one assumes, some military strategic value to trying to control events in Afghanistan in some fashion. Pakistan, since its founding in 1947, and India
have engaged in efforts to exercise influence there with varying degrees of success. The deal that the U.S.A. has signed with Afghanistan is no more likely to
ensure any influence than all previous efforts since 2001. At times, Pakistan has even denied U.S. military transports to provision our troops there.
For those who want to learn the truth of the failure of U.S. efforts, I recommend reading Douglas A. Wissing’s new book, Funding the Enemy: How U.S.
Taxpayers Bankroll the Taliban, just published by Prometheus Books.
Wissing writes:
“Within scant months of Tora Bora, the seeds of American failure
in Afghanistan were sown: the U.S. consort with deceitful Afghan
warlords and leaders; the American complicity in the revived
Afghan opium trade; and the flawed U.S. logistics-and-development
schemes that fueled corruption and helped finance the Taliban.”
Wissing concludes his intensively documented book saying:
“Decades of American arrogance and cupidity have brought us to
this point …but doing more isn’t going to change things. The
hundreds of billions of U.S. dollars and millions of ruined lives
haven’t made Afghanistan safer or less desperate. As America has
upped its bets in Afghanistan, the insurgency has continued to
grow in power and in influence.”
When he campaigned for the U.S. Presidency, Barack Obama characterized the conflict in Afghanistan as a just war in contrast to American efforts in Iraq. By the
time he took office, the Bush administration had already negotiated a withdrawal agreement with the Iraqi government.
The latest deal to continue American investment in Afghanistan defies any common sense, any justification. It comes at a time when America is deeply in debt. It
reflects the Obama administration’s penchant for spending money it does not have without continued borrowing.
The next administration, assuming Obama’s defeat, must abandon the deal and abandon Afghanistan. Alexander the Great did. Genghis Khan did. The British
Empire did. And the Soviet Union collapsed shortly after it did.
© Alan Caruba, 2012
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Asia -- Central & South Asia:
Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, & Their Neighbors
The Middle East & the Problem of Iraq
Page Two
Page One
The Problem of Rogue States:
Iraq as a Case History
American Foreign Policy -- The Middle East
& Central & South Asia
Middle East -- Arabs, Arab States,
& Their Middle Eastern Neighbors
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
International Politics & World Disorder:
War, Peace, & Geopolitics in the Real World:
Foreign Affairs & U.S. National Security
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
Counterterrorism & U.S. National Security
U.S. National Security Strategy
Alan Caruba's commentaries are posted daily at Warning Signs, his popular blog -- and thereafter on dozens of other
websites and blogs. His monthly report on new books is posted at Bookviews.
A business and science writer, Caruba is the Founder of The National Anxiety Center, a clearinghouse for information
about "scare campaigns" designed to influence public opinion and public policy.
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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