Iraq: A Mirror for Afghanistan’s Future

Iraq: A Mirror for Afghanistan’s Future « Antiwar.com Blog

The United States hasn’t left Afghanistan for several reasons: first and foremost, the United States government recognizes that the Afghani government is in shambles. Had US forces left in 2011 after Bin Laden was killed, what government exists in Kabul would have been overrun by the Taliban the instant the Americans took off – possibly while they were on the way out. The fact is that nation-building in such a ridiculously remote and ethnically fractional territory was doomed from the start – it is still doomed and will continue to be doomed indefinitely. There’s a reason Afghanistan is called "the graveyard of empires." That said, now that the American government has publicly committed to stability in Afghanistan (which is irrelevant to American national security and has nothing to do with September 11th), it would be embarrassing to miss the mark by too wide of a margin. Nobody in D.C. wants to lose face and even fewer wish to expose the emperor for what he is. Pride is the principal reason why the undeclared perpetual war against whomever rages on – more accurately termed imperial hubris. Having flown north of 500 hours in theater I can tell you from personal experience that the idea of preventing Afghanistan from becoming a terrorist safe haven is irreparably flawed – if anything, the American presence has emboldened terrorism, not rooted it out.