ebonlock: (Monarch)
I think my overall reaction to Obama's speech last night is somewhat similar to that of the Medium Lobster over at Fafblog:

Let us never forget just what's at stake in the war in Afghanistan: nothing less than the success of the war in Afghanistan. This war may be a mistake, a blood-soaked blunder, an unholy charnel house mindlessly consuming the bodies and souls of untold thousands, an open sore on the pockmarked face of history and an abomination before the sight of God and men, but it is first and foremost a war, and wars must be won. If the United States doesn't win this war, then will it not lose it? And if the United States loses this war, then won't the Unites States have lost it? And if the United States has lost this war, will that not then make the United States a kind of thing that loses wars? And then where would we be?

And just as America can't afford to abandon this war, surely it can't afford to abandon the Afghan people, who without the American military would be left to the savage whims of their hated enemy, the Afghan people. Indeed, it remains America's solemn duty as the leader of the free world to bring freedom and security to the Afghan people by hunting down and eliminating the Afghan people. Nor can America forget its own national security, and the dire threat posed by the Afghan people to our war against the Afghan people.


*sigh*
ebonlock: (Tinkerbell)
Steve Gilliard posts some snippets from a fascinating article on the downward spiral that is Afghanistan:

"...[T]he continuing air raids across Afghanistan, sometimes on wedding parties or innocent villagers, ...have led to the loss of thousands of civilian lives. In May this year there were an astonishing 750 bombing raids*, according to American Central Command."

"Karzai has repeatedly complained to the Americans about the bombers and the lack of cultural sensitivity of raids on the ground — doors kicked down in the middle of the night, male soldiers entering women’s quarters or taking in dogs which are considered unclean.

"Another bitter complaint is of American convoys driving too fast and not stopping when they run someone down. It was such an incident in Kabul that provoked a six-hour riot last month — yet two weeks later a US truck ran over a child in exactly the same place.

"'How can we go in offering school sets and candy to people when the Americans have just bombed someone’s family or run over their daughter?' asked an exasperated senior ISAF [International Security Assistance Force, under Nato control] officer.
"

[snip]

"Against such a backdrop, it seems hopelessly naive for the British to hope that locals in Helmand will differentiate between them and the Americans. At every meeting I attended, para commanders started off by telling local elders, 'we’re British, not Americans,' an odd comment for such close allies.

"At a shura or traditional meeting in Gereshk, elders complained about soldiers bursting into their women’s quarters.

"'It’s not us, we’ve had endless cultural training about this,' said Major Paul Blair, the local British commander. 'But of course they don’t see the difference.'

"'You don’t even differentiate between Pashtuns and Tajiks, let alone different Pashtun tribes,' replied a local teacher. 'Why should we?'

"Back at the camp after this discussion we found that a convoy of Americans had arrived. They were laughing about running over some goats on the way in. 'Now I’m going to have to make another phone call to the district chief to sort it out,' grumbled Blair."

"It did not have to be this way. Just as the Taliban and Al-Qaeda would never have taken hold if the West had not abandoned Afghanistan after the Russians withdrew in 1989, so we would not be in the mess we are today if London and Washington had focused on Afghan nation-building after 2001 instead of pursuing other foreign adventures."

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