Last week President Barack Obama announced that the United States will be sending 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan in an effort to finally drive out the terrorists, defeat the Taliban, stabilize the nation, yada, yada, yada. Immediately afterwards, we heard complaints being lobbed from all sides that Afghanistan is going to become the next Vietnam: that we cannot win. Here is the question I would like answered: what do we win?
There isn't much for the taking in Afghanistan in the traditional sense; at least Iraq has oil. Afghanistan has opium, a hot commodity today and always, but I would hope that the U.S. doesn't start profiting on that any time soon. In Vietnam, the U.S. was trying to stem the tide of communism, feared to be spreading across the world. We lost the war in Vietnam, but communism never really caught on elsewhere post "defeat" in Vietnam.
So what happens when we "win" in Afghanistan? Are we trying to do the whole nation-building thing? That hasn't really worked since post-World War II Germany, and then we had a big advantage because there was a sophisticated, educated and cultured population prior to the American occupation.
Even Iraq is light years ahead of Afghanistan, despite years of despotic rule, war and bloodshed.
Ever since the Silk Road was rendered obsolete by boats, Afghanistan has been a little behind the eight-ball. Most people in Afghanistan today don't have electricity, and fewer than one-third of Afghans are literate (among women, the literacy rate is 18 percent).
The amount of time and money it would take to catch them up to the post stone-age world would be astronomical, and my apologies to the to the Afghan people, not really financially worth it—so I really don't see them becoming a nice, modern ally nation any time in the near future.
The United States began military operations in Afghanistan in direct response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, with the goal being to stop terrorist organizations—chiefly Al Qaeda—from being able to perform future attacks on the U.S. Given that goal, I would say that thus far, we have won the war in Afghanistan.
There has not been another September 11 on American soil. Essentially, the U.S. and her allies have been occupying terrorist territory, bringing the fight to them, rather than letting them bring the fight here. Every day a terrorist attack does not occur in the U.S., the war is being won. The problem is that in America, we like immediate results; we like things cut and dry. As I see things, what it takes for the U.S. to win the war in Afghanistan is more time.
One of the primary goals that the troop increase will seek to address is the creation of a force of Afghans capable of fighting the Taliban, so that American soldiers will not have to put their lives on the line. I recently heard the account of a journalist who was with American soldiers trying to instruct new Afghan security forces. He recounted that upon arrival at Afghan police stations, staffed by men recently trained by American soldiers, they would usually encounter one of three situations.
1. The policemen would be completely stoned. 2. The policemen would be harboring Taliban fighters. 3. The policemen would refuse to leave their station, for fear of being killed by the Taliban.
He also noted that it was incredibly difficult to train the Afghan forces because they could not read. Additionally, many Afghani recruits intentionally failed their training courses because life on the bases is far better than graduating and having to fight.
Beyond these issues, Hamid Karzai's Afghan government is rife with corruption, and the U.S. has no bargaining chip against him. What are we going to say? "If you don't shape up, we'll pull out the troops?" Also, with many of the terrorists having fled across the border to Pakistan, if we left the region the Pakistanis would probably be less aggressive in their cooperation.
Like it or not, war is no longer like the game of Risk, where one's plastic soldier piece is either in a country or not; it is not that cut and dry when governments no longer fight other governments. George Orwell wrote, "People sleep peaceably at night because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."
So when it comes to the future of the war in Afghanistan, my advice to my fellow Americans is to stop bitching and moaning, and instead count your blessings and recall that since the U.S. invaded Afghanistan, there has not been a successful terrorist attack on American soil.
Also, thank the servicemen and women who risk their lives so that you can sleep peaceably at night. If you want the best of both worlds, no more American soldiers dying in Afghanistan and no more terrorist attacks, I have a suggestion: bomb the whole country, kill everyone. Is that better?
Michael Rothschild is a member of the Class of 2010.