American Practical Politics

[unhappycamper]

http://watchingamerica.com/News/180232/american-practical-politics/


American Practical Politics
L'Orient Le Jour, Lebanon
By Christian Merville
Translated By Keegan Robertson
25 October 2012
Edited by Kath­leen Weinberger

Have you heard of Afghanistan?

I pose this question simply because during the last head-to-head Monday night in Boca Raton, Florida, the two American presidential candidates barely mentioned the subject. It must be said that, 12 days prior, Joe Biden concluded the discussion on this topic by slinging, in an exasperated tone, at his adversary Paul Ryan: “But we are leaving. We are leaving in 2014, period,” before adding: “We're going to be saving over the next 10 years another $800 billion. We've been in this war for over a decade. The primary objective is almost completed. Now all we're doing is putting the Kabul government in a position to be able to maintain their own security. It's their responsibility, not America's.”

So, mission accomplished? Come on. The goals for U.S. involvement were the following: to eliminate the Taliban, definitively remove al-Qaida from the country, establish a viable government and finally set up security forces capable of enforcing law and order. Commentators and analysts are unanimous in recognizing that no point on this roadmap has been met, despite an impressive military deployment of the most powerful country in the world, supported by its allies; despite the hundreds of billions squandered; despite dozens of plans, some honorably ambitious, others simply bizarre, to eradicate poppy cultivation, promote women’s education or hygiene of the populace. Washington will have lost 2,000 of its boys in this asymmetrical confrontation, which has caused additional thousands of injuries. The world has lost its last illusions of the capacity of the only superpower to enforce Pax Americana in the foothills of the Hindu Kush.

~snip~

Rather than preemptively attacking this serious problem, America has chosen to avoid the issue. The U.S. is working to repatriate its 68,000 GIs, but is leaving in place a contingent of 15,000 to 25,000 men to support the state. This will give Afghanistan the freedom to make its own decisions while promising (in concert with other countries) a gold mine of $16 billion until 2015. Finally, the decision has been made to continue to train the armed forces of President Hamid Karzaï at the risk of seeing multiplied defections and “green-on-blue attacks” (those recruits who turn their arms against their trainers).

[bemildred]

1. Heh heh heh heh heh ...

We have arrived at the point where the voice of reason is hilarious.