Today President Obama stood before the American people and outlined his vision for bringing troops home from Afghanistan. As I listened, I was transported back to the days when Vietnam was front and center, and realized we've learned nothing from the lessons of history. I trust no one was excited to learn we're pulling approximately 33,000 troops out by 2012 (which was the original number sent over in the surge to disarm the Taliban).
For those who don't quite understand... Afghanistan is the country that over the course of history has successfully brought other nations to their knees. In ancient times Afghanistan was successfully invaded by Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan. In the modern era, Great Britain spent a fortune occupying Afghanistan, but ultimately, achieving nothing. This landlocked country connecting the Middle East, Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent was also responsible for ultimately destroying the economy of the former Soviet Union.
Why is it we think we'll succeed where othe nations have failed miserably? Might is meaningless in Afghanistan.
In the Middle East, we've propped up one corrupt regime after another (the Shah in Iran, Saddam Hussein in Iraq), and the latest (Hamid Karzai) is steeped in corruption, making him just another ugly American "puppet."
Unless we're willing to seriously contemplate our existing foreign policy and acknowledge this policy needs a clear realignment, we will fail in Afghanistan, as well as future foreign enterprises. However, we may just run our economy further into the ground before we figure it out.
photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais, Via Bloomberg / June 23, 2011
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