Eight Years On

In the fall of 2002, along with 20,000 concerned citizens, I attended a demonstration in New York’s Central Park to protest what looked like an imminent, needless war against Iraq. You may not have heard about it, since most of the media decided not to tell the people that millions of Americans were on to the machinations of the Bush/Cheney cabal, and were taking to the streets to make their disgust and alarm known.

One of the themes of the daylong event dealt with how poorly things were already going in Afghanistan. While you could make a case for why we were there in the first place (Tim Robbins spoke of his anger after 9/11, and acceptance of the incursion by U.S. forces), it seemed that we were going to replace one questionable war with one that unquestionably wrong, and were poised to substitute Osama bin Laden with Saddam Hussein.

Eight years on, here we are, still in Afghanistan. The “war” is not close to won (close to being lost, rather), Osama bin Laden is free (or dead for several years - my personal opinion), and the Taliban is resurgent. Why are we still there? What do we hope to gain? Does anyone have a clue how to win the conflict? Don’t know, nothing and no.

Everyone knows how the Soviet Union had their asses handed to them by the mujahideen. We like to give ourselves credit, because of the timely intervention of stinger missles put into the hands of the proto-Taliban. They helped, but without a determined, fanatical force willing to use them, and to die in the thousands while using them, no amount of technology would have been successful. These same fanatics, hardened by decades of battle and by centuries of dealing with foreign incursion, are stepping up to the plate once more.

The Soviets were by no means the first invader to meet their demise there. In 1841 the British occupied Kabul and set up their hand-picked puppet to lead the country. To support him were 4,500 British and Indian troops. Where the Afghans are concerned however, to control a city is to control nothing. Temporarily putting aside their own internecine quarrels (which are legion, and endless), rebel tribesmen turned out in force and soon had them surrounded in their garrison. Skirmishing ensued, with the advantage teetering from one side to the other. Eventually however, the British found themselves outnumbered by more than seven to one and were compelled to arrange a truce, contingent upon their agreeing to quit the country.

This they did, along with all of their soldiers, 12,000 camp followers and three dozen wives, children and nannies of the military. The rebels did not keep to their side of the bargain. Once the retreating army entered the mountain passes leading down into India, they were attacked in a never-ending series of ambushes, lasting days. One man, a Dr. Brydon, emerged safely but badly wounded. Other then him, the entire company perished.

I refer to this incident because little has changed in over a century and a half. The tribesmen are still as ferocious, still as intractable. They are still as suspicious of the foreign, still able to pull together, however temporarily, in the pursuit of expelling that foreigner. What are we trying to accomplish? How do we define victory? When a stable government has been created? Right now we are settling for a clearly corrupt leader, who can’t win an election without resorting to fraud. When Al Quaeda is eliminated? We’ve been paying whack a mole with them for eight years, and they seem to be real good at turning up in another country to pursue their ends. Besides, an army makes a poor mallet for such a small target. How many lives, how much treasure, has to be wasted before we realize that this, like the other, war, is not the right one to be fought? When they have better roads, better schools, better lives? By all means, let’s make their lives better if we can. And dropping bombs on innocents seems counterintuitive. And remember their illiteracy rate is at nine-five percent. Do we have the stomach for decades-long commitment with scant chance of success?

Here’s an idea: let’s continue to do a better job of protecting ourselves at the point of entry into our country. That’s something we can control. Let’s support the Afghan people with all of the humanitarian aid we surely owe after we wrecked their country. And as long as we can keep Republicans out of office and lobbyists away from this important work, we may be all right.