Voices Opposing More Troops for Afghanistan

A gentleman named Hoh, a civilian career diplomat stationed in Afghanistan, recently resigned his post because he does not believe that current U.S. policy in Afghanistan is productive, and he does not support increasing troop levels. He has stated that he feels that the Afghan population views U.S. troops as military occupiers.

And another voice of opposition comes from U.S. Representative Jane Harmon of California, who seems to be saying that, since the administration of Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai is corrupt and riddled with cronyism, it does not have the backing of the Afghan people; and that the U.S., in backing Karzai, thus cannot have the support of the Afghan people either.

As I have said before, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have parallels in the Vietnam war, from which we apparently learned little or nothing. In Vietnam (if anyone still remembers), the French had pulled out after being defeated at Dien Bien Phu. They were succeeded by the Americans. This parallels Afghanistan in that the Russians were in Afghanistan and pulled out; and somehow, the U.S. now is there to again show the Afghans that foreigners want to control their country.

In Vietnam, the U.S. just increased and increased troop levels. Now we are doing that in Afghanistan. Also, the U.S. was propping up the unpopular, dictatorial government of Ngo Dinh Diem which violated the Geneva Accords on Vietnam that were established when the French withdrew. (Source: Encarta Encyclopedia s.v. Ngo Dinh Diem)

Another parallel: U.S. forces are supposedly training Afghan forces so that they will be better able to fight the Taliban. In Vietnam, U.S. troops supposedly were to be withdrawn once South Vietnamese army forces had become able, with U.S. training, to take over the battle against Communist forces. It didn't work then; is it going to work this time? Can you say "rhetorical question"?

Also, note that we are not fighting al-Quaeda in Afghanistan, we are fighting the Taliban. These are bad guys, I'd agree. They want a fundamentalist theocracy in Afghanistan, and these are the boys who blew up the ancient, colossal Buddhist statues--surely a crime against world culture. And they keep infiltrating Pakistan, or have bases in Pakistan. But these are issues for the Afghan and Pakistani governments. It's not clear that the U.S. has a direct interest here, in spite of what American soldiers believe because they have been told so.

Again, I can't wholeheartedly support "our troops" when, remember, they are volunteers and they are doing what they are doing under the mistaken idea that they are fighting for their country or, at least, their country's interests.

Copyright (c) 2009 by Richard Stein