Good-bye Afghanistan

It is looking increasingly like we will be completely pulling all our military from Afghanistan at the “end of the year.” Obama wanted to keep some 10,000 soldiers there for continued training of the Afghan forces. Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, who we have paid an astounding amount of US dollars from the CIA “black” funds, doesn’t want the extended help.

Due to term limits, Karzai is due to be replaced after the April elections, and all of the candidates hoping to replace him have expressed the desire to keep some US training forces in-country for an unspecified time. Well, why should Karzai care? His bribe money will quit coming in after the election.

For a reason that I am at a complete loss to fathom, this guy is being vindictive against his major benefactor, the United States. Until the US took action in Afghanistan in 2001, Karzai was taking refuge in Pakistan.

The most dangerous faction within the country, the Taliban, refuse to recognize the Karzai government as legitimate, and won’t even negotiate a reconciliation deal. So what does he do? He empties the jails setting known Taliban fighters and terrorists loose on the Afghan public.

When the Russians left the country, the Taliban took over in a new reign of terror. Under Taliban rule, Afghanistan was terrorized by fanatical 7th century Muslim thugs trying their worst to suppress the 21^st century world. Under the Karzai government, and with the help of NATO countries, the Afghans may have seen some advancement, but they are still a heavily tribal oriented population. Since 2001, the NATO troops have been playing a deadly game of Whack-A-Mole with the Taliban. We clear them out of one area only to see them infiltrate another area that was previously cleared out. How long will it be before the Taliban take over and force the country back to the seventh century life once all NATO troops leave?

And what of Hamid Karzai when we are gone? Will he quietly retire to an Afghan country estate to live a life of leisure and go on the lecture circuit? Not likely. If he remains in Afghanistan, he would probably be publicly stoned in one of the Kabul sport arenas. Or maybe the Taliban might merely lop off his head.

No, with the riches he has undoubtedly squirreled away – at our expense – he will likely flee to some villa in a country where he can live protected from fatwas (death sentences) of the new ruling Taliban mullahs.

What will become of the Afghan people? They will probably return to a life where music and dancing are strictly forbidden, where only boys can attend school – and then only to learn to memorize the Quran. A life where female rape victims are stoned to death in public arenas; all women must wear head-to-toe burquas, and can only go out in public accompanied by a male family member; where young girls are bartered to old men as wives, and beatings are expected and as common as smoking cigarettes. Of course, wife beating is never prosecuted, because it is never reported. If a woman reported a beating, she would be tried and severely punished for disobeying her husband.

In this bizarre world of Taliban rule a woman dare not get sick. Women can only be examined by female doctors, and of course, girls and women are forbidden from being schooled. So, who are these female doctors? What training could they possibly have?

Then what about the barbers? These poor souls will have to find another line of work. Under Taliban rule, it is a sin to shave or cut one’s hair – and sins are dealt with very harshly.

Despite all efforts to instill democracy in the country, Afghanistan is determined to remain stuck in the past. It is a tribal land ruled by mullahs and tribal leaders. It has been that way for centuries. Even Alexander the Great couldn’t change it. It is also a land where the chief domestic product is Opium, despite drugs being strictly forbidden by Islam. 

Okay, just what do we care? Pulling our troops out will save precious American lives. Besides, we have trained the Afghan Army, what could possibly go wrong? Just because many of the troops we have trained wind up turning their weapons on the trainers, does that mean they won’t fight their fellow Muslim fanatics? In a land where mullahs wield far more power than politicians, why would anyone think that would mean trouble when the “infidel” troops leave?

In Vietnam, despite some iffy agreements with Hanoi, we essentially turned-tail and left the South Vietnamese people to the whims of the North Vietnam Army. Today there are no two Vietnams. The communists easily overran the South Vietnamese Army and wrought havoc on the people in the south.

Are we prepared to see the same disastrous consequences when we pull out of Afghanistan? We were relieved when we pulled out of Iraq, but hardly a week goes by without hearing about another bombing and sectarian violence in that country.

So maybe you don’t really care what happens to the Afghan people. Why should we care? They are clear on the other side of the globe? But then, Bin Laden’s Al Qaida was headquartered and trained on the other side of the world. That includes the terrorists that flew hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center in New York. Are we setting the stage for a re-run of that tragic event?

Well gee, I’m sure our esteemed commander-in-chief knows what he is doing. After all, he gave us that widely popular health-care institution. What could go wrong?