Afghanistran: A Troubled Foreign Policy

The United States and a few allies have been in Afghanistan since late 2001, almost 8 years, yet the Taliban is as strong as ever, the Afghan government is still unstable, corruption still rampant according to the latest reports and their poppi trade still flourishing and still being used to support the Taliban.  Meanwhile Americans are still being killed and our own military leaders tell us it will get worse.

 

The border area's with Pakistan we are told are still a haven for Al Queda and the Taliban despite the million's of dollars given Pakistan to clean up those area's.  Much of the Afghan population still support the Taliban.  The Taliban also know how to fight an occupation thanks to their war with the Soviet Union and the help of the U.S. in that war.  So what should the U.S. do different since there has been no real progress in almost 8 years of war and occupation.

 

The U.S. and its allies must convince Pakistan to clean up the safe havens in border regions and deny Al Queda and the Taliban a base to operate from.  Since Obama took office it seems that Pakistan is making a serious effort to do so.  Time will tell.  It is better if Pakistan assumes the responsibility to do this because that will send the real message to AlQueda and the Taliban. 

 

The U.S. should step up its use of unmanned drones which we are told is being very successful.  The U.S. should also work to get a U.N. security force into Afghanistan to take over security.  The U.S. presence could and should be lessoned if the border regions are cleaned up by Pakistan and Afghanistan.  It is really their war and their countries that are being threatened. 

 

If the U.S. implements a foreign policy of sending more Americans into Afghanistan as the war in Iraq winds down that will only bring the same deployment problems to Afghanistan that he U.S. suffered from in Iraq and our troops will once again pay the price of those multiple deployments.  If Afghanistan is handled like Iraq the U.S. will be in Afghanistan another 10 years and the problem will still not be solved.  This writer still does not know what the U.S. game plan is for Afghanistan from what I have seen so far.  Maybe there is some secret diplomacy going on between the parties that will end this sad situation.  Our men and women in uniform deserve better and the American people need to know what the end game is and how the U.S. will accomplish it.