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Why Is Afghanistan The 'Right War'?: Question For Barack Obama
Why Is Afghanistan The 'Right War'?: Question For Barack Obama
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March 7, 2008
Barack Obama evidently needs to sharpen up his act. Probably most urgent is his
need to develop a more radical economic program. But he should also reconsider his
posture on the US mission in Afghanistan as fighting the right war while Iraq has
been the wrong war. ‘The Iraq war’, he is quoted as saying. ‘distracted us from the
fight that needed to be fought in Afghanistan against Al Qaeda’.
Remarks like this sparked exchanges with McCain over exactly when Al Qaeda
established itself in Iraq. While Obama had the better of this exchange the puzzle
remained: surely the Al Qaeda leadership left Afghanistan shortly after the toppling
of the Taliban and there have been no Al Qaeda training camps there for many
years? Al Qaeda’s leaders and bases are now in Pakistan – and are very probably
some distance from the border. The fighting in Afghanistan is against a resurgent
Taliban, with Al Qaeda playing a very minor role.
Following 9-11 the Bush administration vowed to destroy Al Qaeda but only
succeeded in getting it to withdraw to Pakistan. Pakistani police action has been far
more effective at capturing senior Al Qaeda operatives than NATO military action.
Rounding up the remnant of Al Qaeda central in Waziristan – said to number just 140
fighters – is a problem for the Pakistani government and security services. A Kabul
government dependent on NATO can do nothing to dissuade the Waziris from giving
shelter to Al Qaeda. Quite the reverse, it makes the hospitality obligatory.
So why in the West still in Afghanistan? ‘West’ here means NATO as well as the US.
Actually it’s a question that several NATO countries are beginning to ask ahead of the
NATO meeting in Bucharest in April which is meant to review progress. The US and
Britain urge a bigger effort while some states have contributed nothing and others,
such as Germany, have insisted that their troops remain in quiet northern provinces.
Listening to Joop Scheffer, NATO’s Secretary General, justify the alliance’s presence
to a Brooking audience on February 28 ‘mission’ creep was evident. The ‘war on
terror’ was passed over fairly quickly with greater emphasis on building democracy,
though Scheffer warned that it would be unrealistic to expect this tribal society to
become a Western democracy any time soon. Warming to his theme Scheffer urged
that Afghanistan was strategically vital. He reminded his audience that the country
has a border with China and lies on Russia’s southern flank. In the 21st century, he
insisted, we had to take the defence and control of energy resources very seriously
and Afghanistan lies athwart potential transportation routes from central Asia.
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If the Afghan government felt that it could not handle the situation it might call for
help on Pakistan, Iran and Turkey – three countries with historic ties to different
sections of the Afghan population. Help from this quarter would be much less
compromising than accepting it from the NATO-led occupiers.
What I’m talking about here is an enlightened US policy which grasps that imperial
missions breed resistance and danger in a region that has a long tradition of hostility
to uninvited foreigners, especially if infidel.
Robin Blackburn is the author of Age Shock: How Finance Is Failing Us (2007), a
comprehensive account of risk and social insecurity in the age of financialization. He
can be reached at robinblackburn68@hotmail.com