The U.S. War in Afghanistan (Essay)
At the time of my writing, the NATO war in Afghanistan has just become the longest war in U.S. history, a status it seems likely to retain for some time. It has been, and remains, a very strange war, all the stranger now that General Stanley McChrystal has been fired as commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan following the lamest Douglas MacArthur impression on record. He has been replaced by General David Petraeus, the father and executor of the doctrine that lay behind the eventual U.S. military success in Iraq, a version of which is now being applied in Afghanistan. The notion that his appointment will lead to substantial changes in the Afghan mission is hence overblown, especially as up until a week ago he was the one telling McChrystal what to do in his role as the latter's boss.
So, not a time for radical change, but a time to reflect.
American involvement in Afghanistan began in 1979, when the Soviets invaded the country. The U.S. wanted to get the Soviets bogged down in a demoralizing war, they wanted to discourage this sort of Soviet adventurism, and they especially wanted to make sure the Red Army didn't march on through to the Middle East. So, with the help of a host of other countries, the U.S. funelled money and weapons to anti-Soviet forces, and they didn't ask too many questions about the politics of the recipients. This strategy worked, and the Soviets eventually left Afghanistan and shortly afterwards exited the pages of history for good.
What the U.S. did next wasn't so canny though: they decided they could live with the anti-Soviet groups ruling Afghanistan, and promptly lost interest. A giant civil war proceeded to rage among the anti-Soviet factions, of which there were literally thousands. In 1994, a devout and dedicated religious movement calling itself the Taliban (which means student) began a rapid rise to power. The group comes from the Pashtun ethnic group, which lives in a broad swathe from southern Afghanistan across the
So, not a time for radical change, but a time to reflect.
American involvement in Afghanistan began in 1979, when the Soviets invaded the country. The U.S. wanted to get the Soviets bogged down in a demoralizing war, they wanted to discourage this sort of Soviet adventurism, and they especially wanted to make sure the Red Army didn't march on through to the Middle East. So, with the help of a host of other countries, the U.S. funelled money and weapons to anti-Soviet forces, and they didn't ask too many questions about the politics of the recipients. This strategy worked, and the Soviets eventually left Afghanistan and shortly afterwards exited the pages of history for good.
What the U.S. did next wasn't so canny though: they decided they could live with the anti-Soviet groups ruling Afghanistan, and promptly lost interest. A giant civil war proceeded to rage among the anti-Soviet factions, of which there were literally thousands. In 1994, a devout and dedicated religious movement calling itself the Taliban (which means student) began a rapid rise to power. The group comes from the Pashtun ethnic group, which lives in a broad swathe from southern Afghanistan across the