We OWE the Afghans-My take on the war.

This is something I feel strongly about, we OWE the Afghan people.
During the 80's we armed the Afghans to the teeth to fight the Soviet occupation.
We flooded their nation with arms and money, fiddled with their government and altered their internal power structure for our own ends, namely to oppose the Soviets. When the Russians pulled out, we suddenly lost all interest in Afghanastan, leaving the chips to fall where they may. It wasn't a pretty picture and contributed to the rise of the Taliban.
Fast foward to 9/11 and our invasion. Here we go again. The idea was to get Bin Laden, but Bush and the military blew it, outsourced the operation largly to Afghan locals, Bin Laden escaped to Pakistan and Bush ( in my view ) mistakenly did not pursue him. For 8 years now we have mucked about, fighting the Taliban, accomplishing little ( from our point of view), but majorly screwing with the Afghan people.
Now popular setiment seems to be get out. While I understand the desire to get out, I think we OWE Afghanastan to at least try to provide some stability before we go. The point is not if we should have gone there or not, or about Bush and 9/11.
This would be the second time we have interferred in Afghan affairs, basically wreaked havoc, then turned around and just said "bye"!
No matter what your politics, no matter who is to blame, don't we need to show some decency and commit ourselves to better this nation?
I look forward to any replies, comments, and constructive ideas in this direction.

[edit on 2-12-2009 by OldDragger]

[edit on 2-12-2009 by OldDragger]

I knew I should have used the words orb, disclosure and shape shifter in my thread title!

Originally posted by OldDragger

I knew I should have used the words orb, disclosure and shape shifter in my thread title!

Hey OldDragger,

Pretty funny reply their, figured I would come over and say hello.

No ill feelings I hope from past threads.

As for the OP, I hate to say it, but who don't we owe.

Maybe as a nation, we should get out of every other sovereign countries business. Only help when we are asked for help. Just get out of everyone's business but our own.

A lot of countries feel this way. Who do we think we are, some elitist snob thinking we know what is best for everyone else?

Just saying.

reply to post by endisnighe


I'd agree, but my point is the Afghans in particular. the new "conservative' routine seems to be turning toward withdrawal, while the staunch left opposes the war as always. I don't think this to be an abstract question either, while it is obviously a moral question, I think it will also have huge reprecussions in the future.
So what do we do?

This is not a first.

How did you feel when the Marines left Mogadishu? The resulting chaos required the USASOC to deploy Rangers and Delta force soldiers in an attempt to capture warlords. Which they failed to accomplish.

Half a million people are dead because the US armed forced failed to do what they set out to do.

CT

reply to post by OldDragger


I suppose if the US wanted peace in Afghanistan it could have acquired it long time ago, during the fall of USSR. One mistake which you pointed out.

Second mistake was the invasion, just when Afghanistan became stable through the Taliban regime but Taliban turned out not to be an American friend the invasion began.

Third mistake was the warlords, there are too many warlords who have committed too much crime in which was overlooked by the US and the International community. And the worst thing of them all, these warlords are controlling the faith of Afghanistan. They are in the government, they allowed thieves, killers, murderers, idiots, dumb retards, who ever that might have an army of thugs, to corrupt the Afghan government.

These people instead of being tried and killed, they have been given the full permission of infecting the Afghan government, as long as you do what the boss tells you, you should be fine.

Why do you suppose the Afghan government is the world's second most corrupt regime?

If you don't fix your mistakes, and keep hiding them then surely they are all going to come back to haunt you. I had this experience of hiding my problems in life, I was one of those people who just didn't give a doodle's as$ what happened, then through experience I learned that if I don't sort out my mistakes now, it will all come back.

And surely the American mistakes in Afghanistan are coming back to haunt them. Kabul is filled with drugies, 6-12 year olds inject themselves with heroin, America might not give a doodle's as$ in regards to these horrible facts but many do. I surely do.

No justice no peace.

oz

[edit on 2-12-2009 by oozyism]

reply to post by oozyism


Good post. I think we all should care. It's not good enough to simply blame Bush, Imperialism, etc, we should have a national commitment to at least do what we can to help these people.

How about this - we don't "owe" them anything. History is filled with conflict because humans are filled with conflict. Yeah, it sucks, but we need to move forward, and the the only way that will ever happen is if we stop whining about past injustices and look toward stopping current ones and preventing future ones.

reply to post by Marid Audran


look toward stopping current ones and preventing future ones.


AmI writing in Swahili?
THAT'S EXACTLY THE POINT I'M TRYING TO MAKE!
Ay Carumba!

to the Op we owe them nothing

we GAVE them weapons training and money when they were invaded to help them defend themselves.

we get opium and a rambo movie location.

the only thing we owe them is privacy,we need to leave their country