It’s been a rough week on the terrorism front, what with the underwear bomber and the deaths of 8 or more Americans by suicide bomber in Afghanistan.
The problem in Afghanistan remains the same: we’re not going to win a war against the Taliban so long as we: 1) continue backing a corrupt government that is doing nothing for the Afghan people, 2) cannot take the fight over the border to Pakistan, and 3) have no clear exit strategy beyond “surge, wait a year, hit and hope”.
The problem in the global war on terror, or whatever it’s being called this week, remains the same: we’re not going to win so long as we never bring economic development and a sense of hope to backward lands in the Middle East and Central Asia.
We don’t have enough troops or enough intelligence to succeed 100% of the time against suicide bombers, and our political leaders aren’t willing to tell Americans that life is full of risks, of which that of terrorism is infinitesimal.
Gorilla thinks it’s time to move on with some American reconstruction and development, at the time of the worst economic conditions since the Depression: “The GWOT don’t hit the spot!”
Tags: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Taliban, terrorism