This essay I found on WorldCat gives the political situation in Afghanistan following the withdrawal of the Red Army but before the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan government was overthrown. The anti-communist point of view shouldn't distract from many of the facts about US involvement in Afghanistan most of us haven't heard. In 1991, when this report was written, two years has already passed since the Soviet Union withdrew and not only did the progressive government remain in place, it got stronger. It would remain in place until April of 1992. There is disturbing foretelling in the last pages of the report that "We are apparently supporting groups who are militarily and politically ineffective, and not likely to be pro-US in the long-run, so that we can stand firm against the USSR, with whom we increasingly cooperate", and that an institutional report would recommend cutting off money for a military solution and supplying humanitarian aid instead, all in 1991.
Looking at the corruption and unpopularity of the Karzai government now it seems that 1991 wasn't that long ago. What you won't learn from the National War College is that all forms of intervention in Afghanistan or any nation are doomed to failure. Like it says at the end of this report from 1991, in the Afghanistan of 2010 we need to:
- Cease military action
- Discuss a political settlement with the regional powers, e.g. the Shanghai Cooperation Organization
- Continue humanitarian assistance through "other channels" i.e. ones without political loyalty to the US.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment