Afghanistan: The War Dossier

The talking heads are in another world. This is taking up so much attention. I am incredulous when I hear discussions of strategy for this war. They clasp their hands, all grave and serious and whole-hearted in their assessments. They ponder the General’s requests (As if any general would not request more troops!) with painful pontificated addendums and conditions. Afghanistan is like a sick child in our care. They need us, we can’t leave it. We must ‘protect’ and ‘develop’ and ‘establish’ something or other in it. Our enemy was there, we must not allow them a ‘safe haven’. We must wage war in Afghanistan so the enemy can’t come back there. So they can’t plot any more attacks on our homeland…

We’ve got to call a timeout and think about it. We need to get out the wide-angle lens. We need to take look at Afghanistan. And we need to look at ourselves. And to help us, the editors at FTM have prepared a brief Q&A:

1. Why are we in Afghanistan? This is the simplest question to answer, and all answers are a variation of one number: 911.
2. Why are we still in Afghanistan? The media parrots the reasoning and response from the previous question. But let’s look back on the hazy days of October from 108 moons ago, when we rounded up a posse against the villain in our national tragedy. We acted within the bounds of international law: to re-establish a UN recognized government, and hunt down Osama Bin Laden. We failed at the latter for various reasons, and succeed at the former (more or less). But since our valiant Tajik allies, some on horseback and some in Russian tanks backed by Navy F-16s and Tomahawk missiles broke through the Taliban lines on the plains of Kabul, we learned a few things. We learned that the attackers on 911 were Saudis and Egyptians, who hatched the plot in Hamburg, who trained in Florida, who lived in Paterson and Phoenix and Minneapolis, who entered that morning from Canada, who passed through the screeners at Logan and Newark, whose leader was scion of a wealthy Saudi family, who studied in London, who may be on kidney dialysis, who is no longer in Afghanistan, who may be hiding in a mountain lair, and who may be dead.
3. What is Afghanistan? It is a country where our troops are fighting to root out Al Quaeda and prevent the Taliban from taking over and we are there to build up the local army and police forces and establish an honest and effective government which gives women their rights and educates its children.
4. What is wrong with the above answer? It does not say anything about Afghanistan, it is about our objectives and actions.
5. What is Afghanistan, Part II? Afghanistan is a mountainous resource-poor country in Central Asia, with no access to the sea, no large lakes, and no navigable rivers. The area had long been a transit point for marauding armies and trade (via the Silk Road). Afghanistan, as it looks on a map today, was created in the 19^th century as an administrative entity to separate the frontiers of the Russian and British Empires. Much of its recent history is comprised of wars among competing kings and leaders, with occasional assistance and interference from outside powers. Needless to say, Afghanistan’s social development has not fared well over the last 150 or so years, as most of its population lives in pre-modern conditions due to prolonged periods of war, agricultural exhaustion and isolation.
6. Who are Afghans? They are members of various tribes. Some are the Taliban.
7. Who do the Afghans think they are? People who live in Afghanistan, and belong to one of the tribes, work for the government, eek out a living, and some are members of the Taliban.
8. Who are the Taliban? They are predominantly Afghans of the Pushtun tribe. Some of the tribe lives across the border in Pakistan. They are fundamentalist and want impose their version of Islam on the entire country.
9. Why are we opposed to the Taliban? They may let Osama and his followers to come back and live in Afghanistan. The Taliban will let Osama plan more attacks against us. And we are opposed to their vision of government.
10. Why does the above make no sense as a reason for this war? A wanted man will not hide in a place where everyone is looking for him. It is hard to plan an attack on NY, or DC or LA, or Cedar Rapids, Iowa from a place with no electricity or WiFi (for e-mail and bank transfers and Google maps), few flights and four roads leading out. It is much simpler to mastermind a terrorist attack when one has access to a major port, an electric grid, ATMs and thrice daily connections to London, Dubai and Kuala Lumpur. As for the third point—our ideological opposition to the Taliban—we must calculate how much of our blood and treasure to expend so that a tribe 12,000 miles away fails to take over a mountainous resource-poor country in Central Asia. A country with no access to the sea, no large lakes, no navigable rivers, with nothing to trade, and no common interests.