R i g h t a r d i a: US needs to carefully consider Afghan military policy

Sunday, October 25, 2009

US needs to carefully consider Afghan military policy

The Wyoming Daddy 'Warbucks' Ferengi

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) called the attack Cheney attack on Obama's Afghan policy "outrageous" and ironic."

Rightardia agrees. It is pointless to support a two-bit dictator like Karzai who corrupted the last election. The US has a history of supporting failed dictators like the Shah of Iran, Batista of Cuba, Somozoa of Nicaragua and Pinochet of Chile. All the US did in all of these examples is buy time.

Eventually dictators are overthrown and the US experiences two decades of mistrust and hatred afterward. Iran is an excellent example of this.

The enemy in Afghanistan was never the Taliban who used to be called the Mujaheddin. Unfortunately, President Bush used little diplomacy with the Taliban and preferred the use of military force.

Prior to the invasion of Afghanistan, we were paying the the Taliban $50 million each year to keep the poppy production under control. There is now a drug problem in the US and Russia because the Taliban is using heroin to fund their war.

Dick Cheney's assertion that US troops are in danger is untrue. Certainly an increase in the US presence in Afghanistan will require an even larger increase in the the contractor tail that Cheney's company, Haliburton, represents. Cheney's comments on expanding the war in Afghanistan appears to be related to self-interest.

McChrystal's concern is that the US will find itself in a stalemate like the Russians did without more troops. The US should look to the Russians for military and logistic assistance in Afghanistan. NATO has already encouraged Russian assistance in Afghanistan.

If we can't partner with a democratically elected leader of Afghanistan, the US should pull out and let nature takes its course.