Reading Suggestions for Sarah (and John)
26 October 2008 10:00 am by Taylor Marsh
BY TAYLOR MARSH
She might want to stay away from this
blockbuster.
She and John McCain could both use this one: Ending
the Chaos in Afghanistan and Pakistan. They won’t get it, but should read
it anyway.
Seven years after the U.S.-led coalition and the Afghan commanders it supported
pushed the leaderships of the Taliban and al Qaeda out of Afghanistan and
into Pakistan, an insurgency that includes these and other groups is gaining
ground on both the Afghan and the Pakistani sides of the border. Four years
after Afghanistan’s first-ever presidential election, the increasingly besieged
government of Hamid Karzai is losing credibility at home and abroad. Al Qaeda
has established a new safe haven in the tribal agencies of Pakistan, where
it is defended by a new organization, the Taliban Movement of Pakistan. The
government of Pakistan, beset by one political crisis after another and split
between a traditionally autonomous military and assertive but fractious elected
leaders, has been unable to retain control of its own territory and population.
Its intelligence agency stands accused of supporting terrorism in Afghanistan,
which in many ways has replaced Kashmir as the main arena of the still-unresolved
struggle between Pakistan and India.[...] MORE THAN TROOPS Both U.S. presidential candidates are committed to
sending more troops to Afghanistan, but this would be insufficient to reverse
the collapse of security there. A major diplomatic initiative involving all
the regional stakeholders in problem-solving talks and setting out road maps
for local stabilization efforts is more important. Such an initiative would
serve to reaffirm that the West is indeed committed to the long-term rehabilitation
of Afghanistan and the region. A contact group, meanwhile, would reassure
Afghanistan’s neighbors that the West is determined to address not just extremism
in the region but also economic development, job creation, the drug trade,
and border disputes.
I’ve contended for quite a while that more troops of some sort are needed in
Afghanistan, though I wholly agree troops alone, even in a mixed component nature, are not the answer. “More
than troops” is something we can all agree upon. Troops do send more than
just added force stength message. It sends a signal of new commitment. However,
if we’re expected to be the only one in Afghanistan trying to rebuild what Bush
didn’t do, commiting more U.S. troops would indeed be folly.
Russ Feingold
questions the wisdom of adding more troops. He joins a long list.
Finally, the US has yet to deliver on much of the development assistance
it had planned for Afghanistan. Its infrastructure needs are immense, from
decent hospitals to functioning schools and passable roads. Every day that
those needs go unmet, more Afghan people may turn away from their own government
and allow the Taliban to move in.In the long run, regional diplomacy, government reforms, and infrastructure
development may be more important to Afghanistan’s success – and to
our own national security – than committing additional troops.The decision to go to war in Afghanistan was the right one, but after years
of misplaced priorities and muddling through, we have to do some hard thinking
before asking our military to create the stability and security that are badly
needed there.
The next one is actually for Sarah and John McCain, Joe Lieberman,
Sean Hannity and all the rest of the head in the sand Republicans. It’s
about Iran. I just wish we could wipe the notion of “regime change”
out of their minds. It’s an incredibly ignorant notion.
What are you reading today?
