Monday, August 17, 2009

Need for rethinking Afghan Strategy

The association with US and the assistance they are getting from US in comabting terrorism seem to be the kiss of death for Pakistan and Afghanistan and it is proving to be a slow death.
In the meantime, US and allies will get more and more mired in the Afghan imbroglio and will turn that into another Vietnam, with force escalations, despotic government installed by US and the same old stuff.
It was expected that President Obama would change George Bush's policy but he is repeating Bush's mistakes in Iraq with troop surge, etc.
The British public have already seen the folly of such moves and are pressuring their government to stop sinking deeper in Afganistan.
But in US they are pre-occupied with economic and healthcare crises and have no time to see how the Afgan and Pakistan policies are hurting the US politically and militarily.
In Pakistan and Afghanistan they rightfully hate the US for the carnage it has brought to them.
The US went into the region to avenge the 9/11 and the perpetrators needed to be punished.
But in Afghanistan, after engaging the enemy for so many years, they are nowhere near a solution.
The initial objective of capturing Osama has now become so many things that the US is continuously risking the lives of everyone involved, most of all the innocent civilians.
Just imagine if every county that was the victim of a terror attack started a war against the country that housed the perps. For example, is India allowed to start a war (like the US against Afganistan) against Pakistan to avenge the Bombay massacres ?
The US wrongly invaded Iraq after 9/11 and spent all its energies, money and many soldiers and civilians died in the process.
Now the same thing is happening in Afganistan.
My concern is US on the one hand has lost the wealth of the world by its financial shenanigans and now they are destroying the human wealth in other countries on an imaginary threat which is not going to go away by such wars.
Why not the US step back from Afghanistan, withdraw the forces and work out a more effective way to capture Osama, instead of just throwing men and arms against everyone in Afghanistan and Pakistan ? They are not succeeding with the military option they have embraced.
May be the US should give an ultimatum and task Pakistan to capture Osama and his top deputies within 6 months are so, failing which they would lose all the aid/funds they are getting from US now. This would give Pakistan a deadline and an incentive to work harder to fight terrorism.
A respite in the war may win more friends for US than what is happening now.

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