UNNECESSARY WAR

Richard Haass, pres. of the Council of Foreign Rela-
tions wrote in NYT op-ed (8/21/09): "If Afghanistan
were a war of necessity, it would justify any level of
effort. It is not and does not. It is not certain that
doing more will achieve more." (emphasis mine).

In the article he argues convincingly that the war is one
of choice (our choice) and not one of necessity. He writes:
"It is not obvious that Afghans can overcome ethnic and
tribal loyalties, corruption and personal rivalries. No mat-
ter who is declared the winner, the (recent) election is al-
most certain to leave the country even more divided."

Here's the skinny on the above-mentioned divisions:
Afghanistan has about 37 million people. 40% of them are
Pashtuns living in the S. E. part of the country. There are
25 million more of them across the border in western Paki-
stan. Remember, the Brits set the boundary (the Durand
Line) back in the 19th century without regard to ethnic or
tribal lines. The natives have always ignored the line.
Pashtuns in both countries regard each other as one united
people. While not all Pashtuns are Taliban (Karzai is Pash.),
virtually all Taliban are Pashtuns.

Over the centuries, as the majority group in Afghanistan,
Pashtuns have wielded political power most of the time.
But tribal people in the north of the country still maintain
ethnic connections across national boundaries with people
to their north: Uzbeks look to Uzbekistan as their home-
land, Tajiks to Tajikistan, Kyrygs to Kyrygzstan, and Turko-
men to Turkistan.

Together, these various ethnic (and linguistic) groupings
make up the "Northern Alliance" which was armed and
equipped (and brought together) by our CIA to drive out
the Soviets. They are fiercely anti-Taliban, and even when
Taliban ruled the rest of the country, they were never
successful in conquering the northern forces. The anti-
pathy between Tajiks and Pashtuns goes back for centu-
ries and is a major hurdle against the kind of national
unity the U. S. is trying to foster. In intensity it is some-
thing like the Kurd-Arab split in Iraq (or the Sunni-Shia
one, take your pick.)

Another major barrier against unity is the fact that each
region in the country is run by one or more warlords.
These guys (naturally) are for the most-part corrupt, and
involved in the drug trade and doing business with the
Taliban. Many also remain on the CIA payroll, and funnel
useful information to our people. They go along and get
along with everyone! Some of them also serve in the Karzai
government! They are more interested in personal power
than they are in national unity. Their system runs on crime,
corruption, dope and violence.

Efforts by the U.S, its allies, and its Afghan clients to clean
up the corruption, curb the drug trade, and control depre-
dations by the Taliban are so far (after eight years) still
unsuccessful. The Taliban are gaining, reported our top
military honcho, Adm. Mike Mullen. Our situation is "de-
teriorating" (his words). The military says we are going to
have to supply more troops there, probably a lot more.
That will, of course, escalate the resistance and hence the
violence, and hence the suffering and enmity of the popula-
tion.

Governor Massoud, of Helmand province said he personally
admires the Marines there, from the Second Light Armored
Reconnaissance Battalion, but he said many people "just
don't want them here." He estimated that two of every
three local residents supported the Taliban, mostly because
they make a living growing poppy for the drug trade, which
the Taliban control. Others support them for religious
reasons or because they object to foreign (non-Muslim)
forces. The Taliban receives over $200 million a year from
the drug business.

As violence increases, and more civilians are killed, the
alienation of the people grows, like it did in Viet Nam and
Iraq. And, by the way, on-going flareups in Iraq indicate
that nothing was settled there. 95 people were killed there
and 600 wounded in explosions in the past two weeks. We
imposed a Shia government on them that is still unwilling
to share power or oil revenue with the Sunnis and Kurds.
That means more trouble, not less. Nothing has been
learned!


jgoodwin004@centurytel.net