Thursday, September 9, 2010
How to leave Afghanistan
The United States has spent the better part of a decade in Afghanistan, yet turmoil remains in the country as the infrastructure and government is still unstable. The US promise to get out of the country has been debated and has cause political tensions. In another, somewhat related article, Afghanistan has just been the new site of titanium and other precious metal reserves. With this information, will the US continue to stay in the country? As of now the nation stands , it does not look good ether way for Afghanistan. As the article says, "Still, with every new report of setbacks in the fighting or the venality of President Karzai's administration, the likelihood of Mr Obama persisting in the full counter-insurgency, nation-building strategy he set out last year grows dimmer."
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2 comments:
I think the situation as far as nation building in Afghanistan has always been a bit dim. We missed our greatest chance for success right after we ousted the Taliban, but by then we had already set our sights on Iraq. It is silly to think that we can enforce democracy in a country based mostly on warlords with very little infrastructure. I feel like, since we've made the commitment, it would be irresponsible of us to leave but on the other hand I don't know how productive we can be for Afghanistan.
Agreed. Honestly it is folly to think we can enforce democracy anywhere. Democracy, being a government "of the people," must rise from grassroots movements or it is doomed to fail. America's best hope in Afghanistan would be to use democracy assistance aid and support local people in their efforts at nation building. On the other hand, seeing as we have significantly decreased the standard of living, we might want to first rectify that situation and then pull out.
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