OUT!

We learned after ten years and 58,000 dead in Vietnam that you can't force feed democracy. And now corrupt foreigners can't force feed a corrupt democracy in Afghanistan. After eight years and 833 dead in Afghanistan, the United States mission boils down to that described in a New York Times editorial of November 3rd, entitled "President Karsai's Second Term:"

(a) Mr. Karsai must prove that after "seven years of mismanagement and corruption ... he is deserving of [his people's] trust."

(b) Mr. Karsai "must appoint a new group of ministers and provincial governors who are committed to rebuilding their country, not enriching themselves."

(c) "The Interior Ministry, which oversees the corruption-plagued Afghan National Police, must be reformed."

(d) "The agriculture, energy and private development agencies all [get] better leadership."

(e) The Afghan people need "to see their government working to
protect them and improve their lives...."

(f) Mr. Karsai must "reach out to members of the opposition, choosing competent technocrats for senior jobs."

(g) Mr. Karsai must "break ties with his most unsavory cronies."

(h) Mr. Karsai must demand that Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostrum
"stand trial for his crimes."

(i) Mr. Karsai finally cuts "his ties with his brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, whom American officials say is a big player in the opium trade."

(j) "Washington must also cut its ties with the younger Mr. Karzai ... [who] received regular payments from the CIA for the past eight years."

(k) As Mr. Karsai kills the Taliban, he must "work with the Americans to come up with a strategy to try to woo midlevel Taliban leaders in from the cold."

(l) Mr. Karsai and the U. S. "need to quickly develop a plan to
accelerate training of the Afghan security forces."

We can't ask GIs to lose their arms and legs, even life itself, for this mission. OUT!

Read more commentary by Senator Hollings at www.citizensforacompetitiveamerica.com

 

Comments

[horhay]

I absolutely agree Senator Hollings, we need to get out of Afghanistan. You wrote,"We learned after ten years and 58,000 dead in Vietnam that you can't force feed democracy.­" But it seems like we have not learned from that at all because too many Americans have amnesia about it.

The editorial about the Karzai government suggests including mid level Taliban officials. This is similar to allowing the Taliban to regain control of the government anyway, which will probably happen whenever we do eventually leave. We shouldn't spend exorbitant amounts of money on infrastructure & an embassy in Afghanistan if it is just going to be blown to smithereens or taken over by the Taliban when we leave.

The editorial mentions the opium trade and production in Afghanistan, another parallel to Vietnam. It is basic supply and demand. By stamping out opium production in Afghanistan, some other region or country will become the new source. Even more to the point, the poppies will never be completely eradicated from Afghanistan. Tons of Agent Orange were dumped on the jungles of Vietnam which wound up killing many of our own troops and innocent civilians, the environment was poisoned for decades and cancer clusters are still rampant there. We still do this in South America when we spray paraquat on coca & marijuana plants. We need to come to a rational consensus about what to do about the opium problem in Afghanistan. The Taliban had stopped opium production by ruling with an iron fist.

[PepperzMom]

Unfortunately, this is far too logical for the hawks to understand­...