Another Feather in Bush’s Cap
Reports coming out of Afghanistan are becoming more and more troubling. As time passes the Afghanistan government, from the very bottom up, is becoming more and more corrupt with bribes for service the rule of the road. This is not new and is the mark of most third world countries. What is new is that the US who rightly invaded Afghanistan, set up a provisional Government, and has been, with NATO allies, fighting the Teliban is beginning to wake up that it might be holding its second losing hand.
The Afghan situation shines a very bright light on the foolishness of the Iraqi “war of choice”. Afghanistan represents one of the most difficult challenges for nation building any country could face. The Afghan people and their society are simply not ready for any type of self rule we would recognize. On top of that their best cash crop is opium and no White House can be for that. Yet the Bush/Cheney crowd raced into Iraq with scarcely a worry about Afghanistan, partly because they believed the Teliban was finished or at least could be controlled with a small number of troops, and partly because they felt that Afghanistan would also be the problem of the next Administration.
The intractable nature of Afghanistan, Iraq, and much of Africa is a problem greater than the capabilities of the US, or any single nation. We can not will peace to these lands and we can not beat it into them militarily. Worst of all, these lawless countries can not be ignored either. Left in their current condition, they will breed discontent and asymmetrical behavior all over the world.
The answer, I believe, lies in a complete reversal of the US “go it alone” policy. Although we may be the strongest military nation in the world, we are far from the smartest and clearly lack the resources to deal with all these issues. The new US policy must evolve from a reconciliation with the troubling image we have set with China, India, Russia, and Europe. It will be only with the support of these countries can there be hope of transforming places such as Afghanistan, Iraq, and central Africa into responsible governments.
The next President must devote the time necessary to deal with this problem. This is a problem that needs a solution much as the world is trying to deal with global warming. Lawless countries are a menace to all countries. We need a new Administration that can see the real risks we face and not some imaginary “terrorist behind every tree” (politically expedient) one.
Which candidate gives you the most comfort on this question?
This entry was posted on December 17, 2007 at 11:20 am and is filed under 2008 Election, Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Bill Richardson, Blogroll, Democratic Party, Dick Cheney, Fred Thompson, George Bush, Hillary Clinton, Iraq War, Joe Biden, John Edwards, John McCain, Mit Romney, Politics, Republican Party, Rudy Giuliani. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.
