Afghanistan musings « Thread Started on Nov 6, 2009, 7:02am »
Ok...I think I've had it with Afghanistan. We are propping up a corrupt unpopular government. The experts are quoting 20 - 30 years of involvement and it seems the more troops we send the worse the situation becomes. Does this situation sound vaiguely familiar? The communist threat of world domination brought about wars in Korea and Vietnam during 1950's and 60's with great loss and little success. Can we stop religious fundamentilism in foreign countries by military occupation. I doubt it. So where do we go from here? We need to take another look at the problem and ask ourselves why are the fundamentalist gaining support. The problem is more often than not poverty. The "have's" and the "have nots". Their followers are tired of being pushed around and kept on a starvation diet while we swan around Ikea and jump into our BMW's each weekend.Now this may seem over simplified....and it is!!! but basically this is what it comes down to. So why should we give up our wealth for them? Well...good question! Guess it comes down to greed.
Some Afghan news articles just from today. So many opinions.
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Rocha .... I simply feel that nothing will every be solved or fixed by waging a war that at its base .... from one side or both sides ... is dealing with fundamental beliefs based or religion or social mores. Lets simply take the Civil War in the U.S. ... yes, as a matter of legislation slavery was ended and the Union reunited on paper. But, it was not the the War with thousands of lives lost on both sides that put an end to discrimination or civil injustice .... but it has been more legislation, education and understanding that has progressively diminished this horrid blemish on American history. The Civil War in itself was not successful beyond the abolishment of slavery ... the increased success of race relations/justice has come about by what has been done by peaceful means. Unfortunately, we all know that prejudices still continue to this day within the U.S. and I feel as well that the divide between our states still has not healed.
What's my point here .... Wars do not change fundamental beliefs. Education and ending poverty can advance understanding and goodwill between persons/nations but not in all cases. Religions/Faiths are such strong factors and extremism in anyone religion is a hard wall to break through and tear down. Personally, I think that any one religious/spiritual groups' compulsion to insist that their particular "belief" is the one-way ticket to heaven and redemption is the fatal flaw in humankind. Sometimes I feel that we are condemned to perpetuate our most grievous flaw from generation to generation. It's very sad.
The distribution of wealth in the world is hideous. I don't know exactly what the current figures are ... but the last I heard was that most of the world's assets were owned by 2% of the world's population. I've also heard that within the last two years that the wealth of the wealthiest has decreased.
Afghanistan? Well, with my son now deployed to Afghanistan I have very mixed emotions. As a mother my first concern is for his welfare both physical and mental. Any parent of a child serving in the coalition forces would want their sons and daughters and their comrades to be given full support. As a U.S. citizens I want our troops to have the forces and supplies needed to maintain their operations with the quality that they deserve. I want the same for all the coalition forces. Right now I feel the powers that be need to decide ... determine if leaving Afghanistan will or will not result in increased terrorist centralization. There are arguments on both sides .... I do not know which argument is correct or if either argument exaggerates or lies about the facts and figures. Al Qaeda and the Taliban are two different entities and I think the threat that each propose is quite different. Al Qaeda's threat I believe is more dangerous and more fluid. Whether we nation build in Afghanistan, in my personal opinion, will not detour Al Qaeda and its fundamental beliefs ... they will just play hide-and-seek elsewhere ... they have the whole world to do so and their demise will be played out on a much greater scale then just Afghanistan. Is nation building a cause worthy of our continued involvement in Afghanistan? Is securing a roadblock between any further supportive relationship between the Taliban and Al Qaeda worthy of our continued involvement? I don't know, but I do believe that neither goal is possible if we to not have the trust, respect or help needed from Afghani people. My heart goes out to the citizenry of Afghanistan and the heartache and hardships they have suffered over the past 30 years. And where does fate play into this all...would you choose to be born into a country torn by such internal and external conflicts?
When do we truly become our brother's keeper? Should we be our brother's keeper? Will humankind ever shed itself of hatred or greed?
I'm truly not interested in heaven there after ... or afterlife... I'd like a little heaven here on earth...
Re: Afghanistan musings « Reply #2 on Nov 9, 2009, 12:57pm »
I agree with you Jeanne...the Afghans need help...and thats why our people are out there...but public support for the fight is gradually ebbing away and most people in the Uk are saying....let's bring our troops home. It really is the difficult question of our times.
Re: Afghanistan musings « Reply #4 on Dec 6, 2009, 2:20pm »
Things have moved on. Now they are hoping for a quick fix by boosting numbers in the short term and passing control over to the Afghan army by 2012. It's a risky gamble because the harder they press the more there is to lose. I hope it works because as long as we have our troops on their land ....they will fight. The Muslim world does not want us there ..... and no solution will be found until we leave.
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