It’s a good day for Operation Moshtarak with the capture of the Taliban’s Number 2!
But the contradictory and underlying problems in Afghanistan are far harder and not susceptible to military solution.
There’s no effective central government.
There’s no alternative to drugs for economic development.
There’s no functioning Afghan army or police force to consolidate gains made by NATO in defeating the Taliban.
The Pakistanis, while more helpful now, are still not interested in getting either the Taliban or al-Qaeda out of their country; they too are playing the long game.
So, what’s in it for America? Pretty much nothing.
We’ll have to depend on Afghanistan and Pakistan, along with our very middling intelligence services, to keep the terrorist threat at bay.
This can and should be done, but it doesn’t require billions of dollars and thousands of needless deaths.
We need to start pissing away money on things that matter: health care reform, unemployment, and infrastructure.
Gorilla says: “Terrorism is a marginal problem, while America’s increasing ungovernability is a far more serious threat to national security!”
Tags: Afghanistan