NYT editorial: Losing Afghanistan

[DeepModem Mom]

Editorial
Losing Afghanistan
Published: August 24, 2006

Reclaiming Afghanistan from the Taliban remains a crucial element in America’s global struggle against terrorism. So it should be setting off alarm bells in Washington that Afghans are becoming disenchanted with the performance of the country’s pro-American president, Hamid Karzai.

The democratically elected Karzai government is a big improvement over any of its recent predecessors. But it has not brought security, economic revival or effective governance to most of the country. That has left it vulnerable to complaints about blatant corruption, the pervasive power of warlords and drug lords, and escalating military pressure from a revived and resupplied Taliban.

Nearly five years after American military forces helped topple a Taliban government that provided sanctuary and training camps to Osama bin Laden, there is no victory in the war for Afghanistan, due in significant measure to the Bush administration’s reckless haste to move on to Iraq and shortsighted stinting on economic reconstruction.

The Taliban, operating from cross-border sanctuaries in Pakistan, has exploited Washington’s strategic blunders and Mr. Karzai’s disappointing performance to rebuild its political and military strength, particularly in the southern region where it first began its drive to power more than a decade ago. Daily battles now rage across five southern provinces. Civilian and military casualties are rising sharply, including those among the NATO forces that have recently moved into these areas....

***

Americans are coming to see the war in Iraq as something apart from the war against 9/11-style terrorism — and a distraction from it. The war in Afghanistan has always been an essential part of that larger struggle. That makes it a war that America simply cannot afford to lose.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/24/opinion/24thu3.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[tuvor]

1. "A war that America simply cannot afford to lose"?

So why is Canada now the major fighting force in Afghanistan?

[cliss]

2. I have some complaints about this editorial.

I could practially tear apart every statement they make in this article. But I'll just take a few -

1)"Reclaiming Afghanistan from the Taliban". The US has FUNDED the Taliban in the past. I've read some threads where the US amazingly is funding them right now. They've been our on-and-off again bestest buddies.

2) "America's global struggle against terrorism". What global struggle? What fight against terrorism? Show me where.

3) "Afghans are becoming disenchanted with Hamid Karzai" FACT the Afghans have ALWAYS been disenchanted with Hamid Karzai. They haven't gradually started to dislike him. This man has always been in mortal danger.

4) "The democratically elected Karzai government". I WONDER. I've read lots of accounts of massive fraud in connection with this 'election'. The past 2 elections have been rigged.

See what I mean?

[DeepModem Mom]

3. Yep -- good points. My overall view has to do with...

the abandonment of Afghanistan once again, and I thought the piece was, at least, a reminder of that.