America's Longest War Leaves Little Legacy in Afghanistan

[Mari333]

That June 7, 2010 marks the 104th month of US military engagement in Afghanistan and, consequently, America's longest war in history (Vietnam lasted 103 months), would be less significant if we were not fumbling on all fronts in Afghanistan, from security to development to governance. The disconcerting indication of this mile-marker is not simply that Afghanistan trumps Vietnam as the "longest war in history," but that there is no guarantee that by the 116th month, in July 2011, the bulk of US presence will leave as promised.

Many in Washington warrant that "we are in it to win it". Not only is this paradigm problematic given past precedent of similar, failed attempts by the Russians and the British to "win" in Afghanistan, but we are hardly "winning" now -- another 104 months (some suggest we should stay indefinitely in Afghanistan) hardly increase our chances of "winning".

A better goal, in the remaining months, would be to focus on fortifying Afghan capacity in security, governance and development sectors. While Washington may claim that as its goal, the fact that only 10 to 20 percent of all our military and nonmilitary aid is going directly to Afghan government, nongovernment and private agencies, with the remainder controlled by US or other foreign contractors, makes that mission near impossible.

Lastly, our good governance approach is equally ill footed. In recent past, we have circumvented Afghanistan's central government on most governance strategies (80 percent of all military and nonmilitary aid bypassed the government) colluding, ironically, with known warlords and corrupt figures. Now we're trying to team up with Kabul and President Karzai, yet we continue to undermine their authority by building parallel structures locally that rival the highly effective, government-run National Solidarity Program's Community Development Councils. To add insult to injury, US and foreign contractors who offer substantially higher salaries snatch up the best and brightest of the Afghan government's young recruits, leaving Kabul with little self-governing potential and heavily reliant on international consultants.















http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-mike-honda/americas-longest-war-leav_b_602125.html

[ixion]

1. k/r... They don't call Afghanistan the "Graveyard of Empires" for nothing

but hey, why try and learn from history when you can repeat it? :sarcasm: