On Afghanistan

So much has been written about Afghanistan over the past 10 years that I hesitate to even mention it on the Razor, but events have compelled me to. In fact, the war has lasted so long that most Americans regard all news broadcasts with apathy. I'm as frustrated with the situation as anybody else, but today my blood is absolutely boiling.

Allow me some back story (please). Prior to the September 11th attacks, the Taliban had ruled Afghanistan for about a decade. The crimes they committed against the Afghani people are hideous and nearly unspeakable. For detailed accounts of the torture and inhumanity of their acts, you should read The Kite Runner. It is easily the most emotionally impacting book that I've ever read. It would've been nice if we'd sent the entire force of the US military to defeat them in the 1990's. The cause of liberating the Afghan people would've been justification enough. Unfortunately for the Afghani's (and the victims of the 9/11 attacks), we had to see our own people die before we were willing to commit the resources to solve the problem. I'm not making an indictment of our pre-9/11 leadership, merely observing that if we would've fought the war then, the Afghani's would've been spared several years of cruelty and we would still have the World Trade Center.

But history is history and it took the 9/11 attacks to provide the catalyst for us to declare war on the Taliban. We chose (correctly in my opinion) to fight the initial phase of the war with a very small number of US soldiers. We sent in Special Ops guys and CIA agents to fight alongside the Northern Alliance and other Anti-Taliban groups. This allowed us to begin the war in a much quicker time-frame than using 250,000+ US troops.

I would like you to take just a few moments to consider the war from the prospective of the average Afghani.

After surviving for years under Taliban rule, they had learned how to cope. It is almost impossible for our American minds to comprehend, but the average Afghani has a completely different expectation as to what a government is supposed to provide to its populace. In America we expect water, sewer, garbage collection, police protection, retirement benefits, healthcare, etc. In Afghanistan few of these services were even imaginable. For an Afghani, best to stay off the radar, don't raise government suspicion or you'll get to watch a gang of Taliban thugs rape you wife and torture your kids before they shoot you in the head.

So the United States shows up and offers a deal. Help us overthrow the Taliban and we'll help you build a democracy. We'll bring you freedom. We'll stop the oppression. Imagine once again that you're an Afghani. You know what will happen if the US fails. Everyone who opposed the Taliban will be killed, raped, tortured, etc. Even facing these potential consequences, many of them helped us. They helped us not because they were pissed about the WTC crumbling to the ground, but because we offered a brighter future for them and their families.

Nearly 9 years later the Taliban is no longer a threat to America. We can rest easy at night knowing that their organization is no longer capable of harming us. They can no longer offer a safe haven to Al Queda. I'm not saying that the War on Terror is over, only that if Al Queda wants to train fighters for an attack on the US, they better do it in Pakistan, Yemen, etc. Nearly 9 years later the Taliban is still a threat to the Afghans. Our responsibility to the Afghan people has not been fulfilled. If we fail, the people who helped us will be killed, and within a few years the terror networks will be rebuilt. Our safety will again be compromised.

Obviously the problems in Afghanistan are many. Mistakes have been made, by us and by them. The ultimate solution lies outside of the scope of this blog. I don't have any more answers than anyone else. What I do know is that we can not abandon them. Our enemy is not defeated. Our stated goals and objectives are not met yet. Our promises are not fulfilled. The morality, politics, and principles of being America require that we be there.

The bolded section of the previous paragraph is not my words. They are words of one of my heroes, Amrullah Saleh. During 2001/02 Saleh fought alongside CIA operatives to help us defeat the Taliban. Once the war was won and a new government was formed, Saleh became the head of Afghanistan’s intelligence agency, known as the National Directorate of Security. Since then, he has worked alongside Hamid Karzai, the Afghani president, trying to stabilize the nation. I think he represents are best chance for peace in Afghanistan. He understands the nature of the terrorists. He has a vision for the future of his country. He did not fight with us because of the 9/11 attacks. He was fighting for his people. Osama bin Laden can not engender a vision for this world or for this country. Mullah Omar is the same.

I first learned about Amrullah Saleh through a 60 minutes broadcast that I've linked below. I was more impressed by him than anyone I've ever seen on TV. In fact, I was so moved by his story that I wanted to ensure that I never forgot about him. To that end, I sewed his name into the wristband that I never take off. This is the famous "Cambio" wristband that you can read about here. It was act of sewing his name into the original band that caused it to break. Luckily, I had many backups. I resewed his name, and have worn it with pride ever since. One side says Cambio (for Cuba), and one side says Saleh. Here is a photo:




You might consider it weird, but that's ok. I've thought of him and his fight everyday. He has a wife and young children. Everyday for (at least) 6 years, people have tried to kill him.

Today he was fired.

Why? It's complicated, but assuming you've read this far, I'll try to explain. Last year when Barack Obama committed to sending more troops to Afghanistan, he did so with a time table. He committed to drawing down our troops from Afghanistan beginning next summer, 2011. This is a tremendous mistake. Why put a time table at all? We've been in S. Korea for 60+ years. We've had troops all over the world for a very long time. Why not announce that we'll be in Afghanistan (and Iraq, but that's a different war) for all eternity? Why not convince the wonderful people of Afghanistan that we'll be there until they don't need us any longer? Why not convince our enemy that we'll be there until they are converted or dead?

When we placed the time table, we forced Hamid Karzai's hand. Hamid Karzai is not a bad guy. He's made some mistakes, but so has everyone. He is trying to hold together a government under the worst of circumstances. And he's now in a very bad position. He's having to distance himself from the US. His enemies consider him a US puppet, and believe that all they've got to do is wait till the puppet master goes home (next summer). So, between now and then he's gotta convince them he's not a puppet. So we lose our best man in the Afghan government. Sucks. Karzai has now begun negotiating with the remaining Taliban fighters. And not from a position of strength, but from a position of weakness. The Taliban knows they can just wait us out. Amrullah Saleh has a great relationship with the US and our allies, and he has been fighting this (the negotiating with terrorists) tooth and nail.

Here is a quote describing part of the disagreement between Saleh and Karzai: “The president issued a decree to start looking at the release (from prison) of some Taliban, and I’m sure Amrullah Saleh would not see eye to eye on this and he indicated that it would not be good for security.”

So I'm not necessarily upset with Karzai for firing him, but I'm disgusted with the situation.

What will the future bring for Saleh? Don't know. Everyday since I've been aware of him, I expected to read that he'd been blown up. Now that he's not an official member of government, I wonder how he'll protect himself and his family. He's killed lots of al-Queda... There's an Afghan election in 3 months, wonder if he'll run? Hope so. We need him bad. Could he tour the US and Europe building support for Afghanistan? He'd be great at it. I doubt he'd do it. He once said, I'm a warrior, I don't "meet the press".

If Karzai continues to move his government away from the US, how long will it be until we no longer share common goals? If we pull out of Afghanistan, are we willing to sit back and watch 2,000,000 people die at the hands of the Taliban? People who helped us when we needed them, based on our promise of hope.

What can we do? Don't know. I wrote this. Seems kinda pointless since so few people even read my blog.

What can you do? Don't know. It just seems reprehensible to sit back and watch.

Amrullah Saleh is just one of many people who took the deal. He helped us defeat the Taliban. Helped us destroy the Al-Queda network in Afghanistan. Now we seem poised to squander it.

Here are 60 minute videos I promised. I hope if you watch them, they'll impact you like they did me. I hope you won't miss an opportunity to tell people why we must stay in Afghanistan.






Couple of articles:

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