Afghanistan - Let's get outta there
The US has been involved in Afghanistan for more than a decade. The original goal was to root out the Al Qaeda. This somewhat worked. Now the goal is to create democratic processes there with the hope they will be just like us, two cars in the garage, pot roast on Sunday, cell phones, golfing on Saturday, cable TV, ...
Well, maybe cell phones. People everywhere do like to talk and gossip. Estimates put the number of cell phones at more than 17 million in 2009 out of a 33 million population.
But, down the stretch, no matter how much money and how many lives we expend, the US can never turn Afghanistan into a democracy. Why? You might say it is the Islamic religion. Not quite. What is the case is that it is a combination of the culture and the religion*. To the average, everyday, Afghan, the raison d'être is to settle the score for each affront. Any affront whatever.
In my experience with Afghans, I view them willing to bring their world down around them to settle a score with a neighbor. They can't resist. The tribalism in this country encourage strong-man leaders at a local level, with the maintenance of a high compliance populace and an eye-for-an-eye adjudication of every offense.
I was amazed when President Obama went there. Doesn't he have intelligent people that know these people, that have read at least a little history? Ask their neighbors, the Indians, the Iranians, the Pakistanis, what they think of Afghans. There is no love at all. Disrespect, distrust, and dislike are the three D's of their long-standing interactions.
USA: Give it up! Declare victory and get out. Don't waste another nickel, or another life!
* Just like there are varying sects of Lutherans, Catholics, and Jews, there is the same for Muslims. The Afghans seem to have the most disreputable of them all.
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