“After the Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan, something that was accomplished at the cost of more than a million Afghan lives and billions of dollars of U.S. aid, the United States closed its embassy in Afghanistan in 1989 during the George H.W. Bush administration and then zeroed out aid to one of the poorest countries in the world under the Clinton administration. It essentially turned its back on Afghans once they had served their purpose of dealing a deathblow to the Soviets. As a result, the United States had virtually no understanding of the subsequent vacuum in Afghanistan into which eventually stepped the Taliban, who rose to power in the mid-1990s. The Taliban granted shelter to Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda organization from 1996 onward.” Mr. Bergen, You have your facts wrong. As one of the people who carried a rifle in Afghanistan, and who left in disgust in 1988 after having devoted myself to victory there, I must ask you to tell the whole story please. You say nothing about the role of Pakistan in your essay. It is a persistent failure in your reportage and common to journalists from America. It is America’s ongoing relationship with Pakistan that needs to be addressed before we spend another dime or sacrifice another young American life. 1. American diplomats covered for and lied to the Congress about the Taliban for years. They had plenty of knowledge but they were so busy getting fat lobbying contracts from UNOCAL and Pakistan and others that they were willing to let the Taliban take over. 2. America has been fighting Pakistani interests all of this time and has steadfastly refused to admit it. The situation is so bad, that the very strategy employed, COIN, is based on the false notion that we are fighting the Taliban alone. But the Taliban could not have gone on this long without Pakistan and everybody knows it. COIN has clearly failed and NOT because of American soldiers. Virtually every time we engage the Taliban in the field, we beat them. But it never lays a glove on the Pakistani Army or the ISI. 3. In spite of this awful contradiction, America continues to give aid and military knowledge and hardware as well as ignoring Pakistan’s nuclear program which has served to destabilize the region. We are arming and paying the very people we are fighting against. 4. American diplomacy has always been about feeding Pakistan’s appetites and, it appears, always will be. It appears to be completely legal but it has the net effect of lying to the American people on a grand scale which, I for one, am tired of. 5. You make no mention of the Chinese. They have a significant stake in the region. Don’t they have some responsibility here? They have clearly made a commitment to Pakistan that is very different from their arrangement with North Korea. Do you really see some parity between Afghanistan and South Korea? Sorry Peter, your arguments are weak and based on half truths. That doesn’t fly. You cannot reasonably expect people to accept huge fundamental fallacies and continue to give up sons and daughters, huge amounts of money, and gobs of international respect.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Jul 2013 14:31:08 +0000
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