Where we are at in Afghanistan
- Don Juice
- Mar 14, 2017
- 2 min read
A lot of people don’t know this but we are still in Afghanistan and 15 years later things still look dire. The Taliban have taken more territory than they ever have since the 2001 invasion, afghan corruption is still rampant and the Army leadership is still weak. But the most important element in Afghanistan ills is Pakistan continued support for the Taliban which dates back to the afghan civil war of the 1990’s. Right now there are discussions about sending in more troops to quell the insurgency but we already tried that. The answer is not more troops, the answer lies in what I have explained above. We have 8000 troops in Afghanistan and 13000 NATO troops overall. Our troops are involved in training and advising and counter-terrorism missions. We have built up afghan military institutions from Army bases and academies to a growing air force apparatus. In my analytical opinion it should stay that way because throwing more troops won’t solve anything until you get to the root causes.
To be honest it may even make more sense to withdraw completely because after 15 years of international help the Afghans still can’t get it together. The Taliban wants to keep the country in the Bronze Age and there are many Afghans including young people who want Afghanistan to move into the 21st century. The only way to defeat the Taliban is to have a competent government and a defense institution free of corruption and of course to win the war of ideas. That should go along with threatening Pakistan with sanctions and terrorism sponsoring designation if they refuse to cooperate. Even threatening to align more with India and while this is a very risky move, accepting the status quo isn’t working and Pakistan must be held accountable for harboring the Taliban. There are no easy answers to Afghanistan and to be straightforward only Afghanistan can truly solve afghan problems. The people must reject the Taliban’s Islamic fundamentalist narrative and only when that happens will the Taliban be truly defeated because this ideological battle cannot be won on the battlefield but in the minds of the society.
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