Phib, in one of his repeated themes, bemoans the fact that we did not give ourselves a chance to “succeed” in Afghanistan. “All it required was about another four-five years of patience. Of course, that 4-5 from now is based on an alternative history where we did not announce our retreat in DEC 09 … but what is, is. District by district “Shape, Clear, Hold, Build” was a solid way to do it – but just as it was getting roots as the surge soaked in, we stopped feeding it. The following results will be sadly predictable.”
Complete and total horseshit.
This is a peculiarly American disease where we always place the blame everywhere but where it really lies. This is how we get pundits like William “The Bloody” Kristol- who, incidentally, could not be bothered to serve one day in his miserable life, but is more than willing to send other people’s children to die for his right to earn six figures a year-advocating war without end in the Middle East.
Didn’t give it enough time? We will have been in that Godforsaken country for over 13 years. How much f*cking time do we need? Or more correctly, how many chances do the Afghans get before we tell them to go f*ck themselves?
Two facts here are really important. One, the clock did not stop ticking in Afghanistan just because we invaded Iraq. So the very idea that we could “just pick up where we left off” and somehow, magically we would have a peaceful and stable Afghanistan, by spending ten plus years-losing Americans-to create what? And two, the patience of the American people is not unlimited and we are long past the point of patience with any of the wars for most reasonable Americans.
A land of people who refuse to help themselves. This, by the way, is backed up by over a 100 years of Afghan history. This is what we are getting today, it is what we would have gotten 10 years from now-it will pretty much always be that way as long as the country is saddled with albatross of Islam.
Want to know the day we “lost” Afghanistan? March 19, 2003. That’s the day the United States in one of the most stupid moves in its history, foolishly invaded a land that had not attacked it, and in the process metastasized what was essentially a localized disturbance into the world’s bloodstream. One could even make the point that we could look further back-to-the point where a man like George Bush, under the advice of some pretty questionable characters, decided that the United States could somehow accomplish the impossible and eliminate terrorism from the earth. Rather than pursue the vengeance that our public opinion required in the aftermath of 9-11, the grey hair allowed himself to be diverted into what has now quite well been proven, to be a worthless, damn fool ideological crusade.
And what do we have to show for it? Nothing of substance.
Oh sure, Bin Laden is dead, but as it turned out, that had nothing to do with clear, hold, and build. And Al Queda has been disrupted-but again, that happened without years of counterinsurgency. We have lost over 6000 fine Americans dead and almost 50,000 wounded for the “right” to stay in a backward nation from over a decade, however. What did they suffer for?
Nothing of value Phib. Nothing of value. And that was true in 2009, as assuredly as it is today. Put the blame where it belongs and leave it there-on the Afghan people.
Now that is what I will drink more over. The tendency on the part of policymakers — and probably a tendency on the part of some Americans — to think that the problems we face are problems that are out there somewhere beyond our borders, and that if we can fix those problems, then we’ll be able to continue the American way of life as it has long existed. I think it’s fundamentally wrong. Our major problems are at home in the US.
Starting with the idea that we can somehow “fix” people who are unfixable.