Reply #9: "trying to make Afghanistan more stable" [View All]

[moodforaday]

"I think we are trying to make Afghanistan more stable so the two countries can stand up to that extremism."

I think we've seen enough over the last nine years, and certainly during the latter half of previous century, to get well past the notion of the US military (or the armed forces of any powerful state) "trying" to do anything that benefits indigenous populations in far-away countries. But since we're not learning from historical precedent, maybe we can at least look at what the people in question are telling us right now, today:

Glenn Greenwald: Ex-Islamic radicals on what motivates -- and impedes -- extremism
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/11/16/terrorism/index.html

What it boils down to is that the very presence of foreign troops on their soil (let alone the many acts of violence, premeditated and not) serves only to aggravate. This is a fact. It not only stands to reason, but we are being directly told it is so.

I honestly have no patience for hair-splitting about what any politicians or military people are "trying" to do. You cannot divine people's intentions. Maybe Bush was "trying", in his feeble mind, to bring freedom to the Iraqis, who knows? Maybe Ken Lay was "trying" to run a successful business as best he could - maybe! I don't care what anyone is trying to do simply because I cannot *know* it. What matters is what actually happens.

And as best we can tell, what's about to happen is that by the time Obama's deadline for beginning withdrawal arrives, there will be more violence in Afghanistan and more violence in Pakistan, because we will have killed more people in both countries, and that's going to include a lot of dead people who never deserved to be killed. If any troops are ordered out of Afghanistan at that point, it will be to "stabilize" Pakistan. Intentions are irrelevant. More troops is more fuel on the fire, unless you're going to kill pretty much every male there capable of bearing a weapon.

Would you sit idly while an occupying force was "stabilizing" YOUR country?