Bribe Afghan War Lords To Stop Terrorists and the Taliban

President Barack Obama soon decides whether to send even more troops to Afghanistan, despite narrowing our purpose there to the prevention of terrorist nests.

Here's an idea, Mr. President: Why not just bribe the Afghan war lords to keep the terrorists out? They could even be our proxies against the Taliban. This is more or less where our policy was heading until Obama decided to escalate our military presence.

The war lords are only interested in keeping control of their turf. Guarantee them that and provide incentives to run off the terrorists when they come around. They also have no interest in supporting national government, whether it's run by our puppets or the Taliban. So, pay them off to oppose the Taliban.

War lords being, well, war lords, they're not a trustworthy bunch. Some will surely lie to us. But we have the technology for monitoring them. A quick visit from one of our predators could help keep a duplicitous war lord in line. The same goes for any terrorist camps that spring up.

However messy and imperfect this plan might be, it would be cheaper than maintaining tens of thousands of troops and even more private contractors on the ground trying in vain to build a Jeffersonian Democracy. It just seems misguided to engage in nation building for the limited purpose of disrupting terrorists.

Craig blogs daily on CQ Politics: Beware Anti-War Presidents, the Nixon Precedent

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Comments

[sonoffestus]

We have always had more successful foreign policies when we do hire local despots to run things. Much cheaper too.

However, I would hire the Taliban as well to keep "Al's Kayda" from opening up shop. The war lords and taliban could then figure how they are going to cut the cake, once Al's kids are put to sleep.

[S1m0n]

That's how you got into this situation: the warlords did all the heavy lifting and committed most of the atrocities in overthrowing (err, forcing a temporary retreat to the mountains) the Taliban.

The problem is that the Pastuns are by far the largest and most powerful tribe in Afghanistan, comprising some 55% of the population, and the Taliban is their vehicle. You can't 'keep them out' of afghanistan because ARE afghanistan.

The warlords you're talking about are a grab bag of Tajiks, Uzbeks, Turkmen and Azeris, all of whom are small minorities. Last time they had control of the south (after the Soviet retreat) they waged a campaign of rapes and murders so serious that the locals turned to the taliban to drive them out.

[Dosadi]

News travels fast. They will not come as cheap as the Iraqis. We could have offered Bin Laden what we spent on the Iraq war and he would have agreed to leave us alone. $1 trillion would have been a cheap price to pay considering we lost over 4,000 of our men and women over there. The new surge. Can't wait to hear the spin on this one.

[nivek]

I cannot decide if Mr. Crawford is voicing an honest opinion or making a cynical, sarcastic remark with his commentary. This happens with ever increasing frequency and it is not isolated to Craig Crawford, who, I genuinely enjoy reading. I suspect the cause of my confusion is the ever shifting face of reality that politicians and media pundits present. Everyone has an opinion. Everyone has a perspective that is shaped by their own experience, needs, and desires. Competing opinions, often presented as fact, (even the really far out fringe stuff ) are now given equal weight, space and time to influence pubic opinion. That makes it difficult to pin down truth. It keeps people guessing I guess. Welcome to Babylon

[Craig Crawford - Huffpost Blogger]

Nivek, while I am no stranger to mischief and sarcasm, I'm not kidding. I refer you to Richard Clarke's post on HuffPo for a much more comprensive review of what's going on in Afghanistan, in which he sort of hints at what I'm suggesting as a last resort.. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-a-clarke/more-troops-to-afghanista_b_283466.html

[nivek]

Sir, I mean no disrespect, but feel you have missed the actual point of my comment.