by Zafar Bangash (Editorials, Crescent International Vol. 41, No. 2, Jumada' al-Ula', 1433)
It requires no great imagination to figure out that in order to get out of a hole, one must first stop digging. This should be obvious even to the most simple-minded people but American policy-makers, it seems, refuse to learn.
It requires no great imagination to figure out that in order to get out of a hole, one must first stop digging. This should be obvious even to the most simple-minded people but American policy-makers, it seems, refuse to learn. Their time is up in Afghanistan and they must pack their bags and leave. This is the moment the Americans and their stooges, otherwise known as allies, have reached in Afghanistan. But perish the thought; instead of getting out, the Americans keep digging a deeper hole for themselves.
There is no shortage of “experts” trying to steer a bankrupt America into further losses in Afghanistan. The atrocious behavior of US and allied troops over a decade and the natural reaction of the Afghans to these horrors are well known. Troops on the ground realized long ago that the war is lost. This was admitted even by top commanders. What they and the US government are trying to figure now is how to achieve an “honorable exit” from the Afghan quagmire. When the mission is flawed and the conduct of troops completely dishonorable — shooting unarmed civilians, urinating on dead bodies and desecrating copies of the Qur’an — what is left of their honor? But Americans are stubborn people; even in the face of clear proof that they face humiliating prospects if they do not withdraw soon, they keep talking about an “orderly” withdrawal. If so, a good starting point would be to improve their manners.
While the generals and Pentagon officials see the looming disaster, armchair intellectuals that infest the various think tanks in Washington, keep conjuring up doomsday scenarios to scare people about a US retreat. Typical of these is Marc A. Thiessen’s column in the Washington Post of March 19. He warns that “the drone war against al-Qaeda in Pakistan would likely cease.” So what? Declared illegal even by the UN, the drones’ principal victims have been Pakistani civilians; in fact 90% of the victims are civilians. He also raises the bogey of extremists getting a hold of Pakistani nuclear weapons, emboldening al-Qaeda to once again strike the US; and Iran being strengthened by a US retreat.
As a visiting fellow at the pro-Zionist American Enterprise Institute, Thiessen’s alarmist writings are meant to keep the US perpetually involved in wars for the sake of Israel. A number of generals and successive defense secretaries have said that al-Qaeda has been degraded and put their presence at less than 100 in Afghanistan. Surely, the generals and Pentagon top brass would know a little more about the reality in Afghanistan than an armchair Zionist warmonger in Washington! If al-Qaeda presence has been reduced to less than 100, the rationale for keeping 100,000 or more US troops in Afghanistan is long redundant. Besides, US Vice President Joe Biden had said in a Newsweek interview (January 5, 2012) that the US had no quarrel with the Taliban. Mullah Omar would be pleased to read that and might even tweet Biden from his cave somewhere in the mountains of Pakistan and Afghanistan. One can speculate what he might say: “Thanks Joe, it’s good to know we are friends again. Drop by for a cup of tea and some stale bread when you are in this part of the woods. Your old pal: Mullah Omar.”
The Americans are also blaming Pakistan — what else is new? — for not facilitating an orderly withdrawal. Pakistan opened its air space for essential goods, especially diapers for US troops, to be delivered without hindrance! What else do they want? The American dilemma is that unlike Vietnam, Afghanistan is landlocked. So they cannot escape by sea after dumping their helicopters. The US is truly in a quandary in Afghanistan. They only have themselves to blame.