Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Progress in the War Against the Taliban: Not!

Also in today's news:

The Taliban has become a much more potent adversary in Afghanistan by improving its own tactics and finding gaps in the U.S. military playbook, according to senior American military officials who acknowledged that the enemy's resurgence this year has taken them by surprise.

U.S. rules of engagement restricting the use of air power and aggressive action against civilians have also opened new space for the insurgents, officials said. Western development projects, such as new roads, schools and police stations, have provided fresh targets for Taliban roadside bombs and suicide attacks. The inability of rising numbers of American troops to protect Afghan citizens has increased resentment of the Western presence and the corrupt Afghan government that cooperates with it, the officials said.

Who still thinks we should continue this war?

7 comments:

Mike Huben said...

I suggest that you ask the Afghanis if they want to be ruled by the Taliban again.

Then, you can face the libertarian conundrum of whether a foreign theocracy visiting unwelcome horrors upon its people and providing a staging ground for further expansion should be defended by libertarians or whether the wealthy should be taxed to save other people.

Your strategy of refusal to resist was called appeasement in the 1930s. History shows it was stupid.

Gordon Hutton said...

Pulling out of Afghanistan is appeasement?

What is the purpose of this war again? Does the answer to that question apply to Iraq, too? Anywhere else we should go and tax the wealthy to pay for it?

Appeasing German military might is one thing. Should America fear the Taliban Wehrmacht?

If we're going to "win," whatever that means in this war, then we're going to have to put troops in Pakistan and somehow convince Pakistan that Afghanistan won't become India's new best friend. But that is just my lame unfounded opinion based on my utter ignorance of why we have troops there at this point.

The conundrum of which you speak, Mike, is a superpower conundrum, not a libertarian one. Does having the power to prevent horrors create the responsibility to prevent them? It's a big assumption that we have that power, of course.

If I knew the strategic objectives, maybe I could answer Miron's question about continuing the war. I don't believe that I understand it anymore. If it means keeping the Taliban in the mountains of Pakistan, well, that seems silly. Does it mean the total destruction of the Taliban? The capture of OBL? Are we responsible for ending corruption in Afghani government?

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