Re: Afghanistan
The only thing that will save Afghanistan is technology and education. The people are kept ignorant of anything outside of their border. The hatred between the tribal groups(Tajiks, Pashtu's, and others) is worse than what is found between an American KKK member and a Black Panther. These people hate each others guts and would rather kill each other than live with one another.
Even with education and technology though, the people remain ignorant because they are so deeply steeped in Isamic belief they are considered the most religious believers in Islam in the world. One cannot simply come into Afghanistan and change it over the course of ten years. It will not change. Tribal beliefs and ways die hard and have been taught from generation to generation for eon's and centuries. As a nation or a participant in any coalition activity, we will never do anything more to change Afghanistan than make a few villages or schools. What we have done over the course of the last ten years will simply go away due to the overall ignorance of the nation as a whole.
It is this reason why the Taliban so easily takes control and why Afghanistan as a nation will never congeal into anything more than small tribal based fiefdoms.
What we do is a monumental waste of asset, time, and personnel. Yes, we made some nicer villages with all the support of the PRT's and NGO's, but it does nothing to move the national ID into anything more than warlord holdings. even the local warlords are ignorant. When the underground river was discovered beneath the lands around Bagram, a water treatment and bottling plant was built. During the initial construction, the local warlord organized a protest based on'all the water running out in six months'. He had to be shown, and explained to that the river supported enough water for the entire country for the next century and more. Even after he was taught and shown these things, he still walked away believing 'his' water would disappear in six months. Is it ignorance then, or nationalized stupidity? What is it that makes these people happy to scratch out an existence on dry dirt, succumb to the five daily prayers, and tenets of an oppressive way of life, and die each day walking over the exact same lands where they see their children getting blown up by mines? National Stupidity, or just a way of life accepting ignorance? The longer I ponder on what I saw go on over there, what has gone on, and what can be done about it, the more clearly I see it is indeed a lost cause.
The obvious answer is to leave, keep in place an old school intel system of spies and other means of gathering intel, then using tactically placed individual assets to keep things safe for US. Do we actually think we can fix it in 50 years when every year something else happens to put the entire effort back four years(burning Korans etc, and yes, I understand this was by the book itself and had to be done, but damn, bring in an Imam to do it so there will be no issues!) Jeez, I ramble...good coffee this morning. A wee bag of a very special double roast of Ethiopian stuff...nice hot press, yeah....
