Former Afghan President @KarzaiH tells me the United States did not fight successfully or honestly in Afghanistan and would not be welcome back. pic.twitter.com/oBvV0TuwtK
— Yalda Hakim (@BBCYaldaHakim) July 5, 2021
The futility of “nation building” in a place like Afghanistan demonstrated above. All we have to show for two decades of blood, toil and treasure are some corrupt politicians like the above bad mouthing the US as they secretly arrange transit from their hellhole rather than fighting the Taliban. If we stayed another two decades the outcome would doubtless be precisely the same. Nothing in Afghanistan is worth the bones of one American Ranger. Next time we have trouble there, it is a job for drone strikes, cruise missile strikes and butcher and bolt raids against military targets.
Nation building doesn’t work if serious effort is not given. You do not defeat a nation and then rush to grant it the ability to self-govern. You smash dissent and show them why your way is better, by force if necessary. See Japan following WW2. Yes, we allowed them a legislature, but we were also the ones making any real decisions and directing their actions. We didn’t even hand them control back of Okinawa until ’72.
The problem with Afghanistan, and nearly every country in that region, is that they do not respect kindness only strength. Kindness to your enemies is seen as weakness, you only show any type of kindness to your own tribe; of which Afghanistan has many. Those tribes won’t work together without a strong leader at the forefront; Karzai was not that leader.
The US should have stationed regional leaders to each section of the country, with locally elected legislatures for advisors and day-to-day functions (but with a group for oversight). Then had an overall country leader, that was a leader in truth and not only the leader of our military forces, and the accompanying elected legislature. And it would have taken 20-30 years of that effort with none of this withdrawal, partial withdrawal, surge crap. The only withdrawal should have been the reduction following any necessary surge of forces due to a significant increase in rebellious activity.
But we don’t have the heart for total way anymore; and we haven’t since the bullshit the Democrats, and the media of the time, pulled with Vietnam.
They wasted 3,000 young lives and $2 or $ 3 trillion.
Apparently, Lord Roberts temporarily pacified the hell hole, and for generations mothers used the ‘Roberts’ bogey man to scare their children when they misbehaved.
Never forget that our “ally” Pakistan actually housed Osama bin laden
It was worth the attempt. From First Things:
What is the work of the local Catholic religious orders? Who are they and where do they come from?
The first religious women—the Little Sisters of Jesus—arrived in Afghanistan in 1955. Until the beginning of the twenty-first century, they were, with the Barnabite chaplain, the only religious presence in the country. They stayed here even during the Taliban period. They worked as nurses in the hospitals, and lived among people, “Afghans among Afghans.” Unfortunately, they left last February. In 2004 an intercongregational community was founded—PBK (“Pro Bambini di Kabul”)—which runs a small school for disabled children. The Sisters, belonging to different Congregations, change periodically. At present, there are a Pakistani (Dominican), an Indian (Guanellian) and a Mozambican (Consolata). In 2005 some Indian Jesuits came with their Jesuit Refugee Service. They are engaged in the field of education. At the beginning, they were four; now, especially after one of them was kidnapped, only two are left. In 2006 the Missionaries of Charity (Mother Teresa’s sisters) arrived. They have an orphanage for disabled children and help more than 300 poor families.
I vaguely remembered I should know that name for something besides “former president”–
the guy complaining is one of the guys who set up the fail that was the Taliban getting there in the first place.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hamid-Karzai
Kinda has a history of screwing things up and blaming the people who helped him for not making it work.
As a civilian employee of the Defense Department, I was one of a group to provide support to the military activities in that country. A number of us were aware of the history of that country and other interventions such as Vietnam when I served in the military. A very few of us remembered that it was Julius Caesar that sought to remake the Germans. As it turned out, four centuries later, they and a few other tribes dismantled the then Roman Empire. President Reagan executed two overseas military operations, Grenada and Panama, and then quickly left after their respective Presidents were dealt with. A valuable lesson regretfully not learned in Iraq or Afghanistan after the fall of Saddam and Bin Laden. Possibly it will be learned before the next military “adventure”.
A valuable lesson regretfully not learned in Iraq or Afghanistan after the fall of Saddam and Bin Laden. Possibly it will be learned before the next military “adventure”.
American troop strength in Iraq was reduced by 97% at the end of 2011 and the frequency of lethal political violence is currently 94% below the mean of the period running from 2003 to 2017.
A very few of us remembered that it was Julius Caesar that sought to remake the Germans.
It’s about 60 miles to the Rhine from the furthest extent of Roman settlement in Gallia Belgica. Don’t think Caesar’s armies went any farther than that.
As it turned out, four centuries later, they and a few other tribes dismantled the then Roman Empire.
The Roman legions evacuated Britannia in 410 AD and local chieftains invited settlers from Saxony and what is today Denmark to enter. Iberia and Italy were conquered by the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, who entered the Roman world from what is today the Ukraine, not 1st century Germania. The North African provinces were conquered by the Vandals, who were largely east of the Vistula in the 1st century BC.
A very few of us remembered that it was Julius Caesar that sought to remake the Germans.
Caesar was a breaker not a maker. He shattered the Gauls and destroyed invading Germanic tribes. It was left to the Emperors to make the Gauls more Roman than the Romans. The experiment to conquer Germania piece meal was largely given up by Caesar’s nephew Augustus after the battle of the Teutoberger Wald. The German tribes closest to the Empire were heavily influenced by trade with the Empire and many of their men serving as auxiliaries with the Legions, which ultimately made them more formidable when the day of the barbarian invasions dawned in the Third Century.
I have made the comment for years that, beginning with the English, the Western world has tried to wish a country named “Afghanistan” into existence, in part by drawing magical lines on a map. It does not exist. It has never existed. It is an ethnicity, at best, inasmuch as there are “Afghans”, but, again, there is no “Afghanistan” in the way other parts of the world would understand it. And until we hire some anthropologists and wrap our heads around the concept of “Not A Country”, the same bloody mistakes will continue to be made.
I have made the comment for years that, beginning with the English, the Western world has tried to wish a country named “Afghanistan” into existence, in part by drawing magical lines on a map. It does not exist. It has never existed. It is an ethnicity, at best, inasmuch as there are “Afghans”, but, again, there is no “Afghanistan” in the way other parts of the world would understand it. And until we hire some anthropologists and wrap our heads around the concept of “Not A Country”, the same bloody mistakes will continue to be made.
Afghanistan exists and has existed within its approximate boundaries for 200 years. Neither is ‘afghan’ an ethnos. There is no majority ethnic group in Afghanistan and there never has been. The largest share of the population is Pathan, followed by Tajik and Hazara.