the horace mann Plunging into Afghanistan - Horace Mann School

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FeaturesFeaturesPlunging into AfghanistanIs the surge a tonic for peace or a recipe for disaster?Timeby nathan raabThat every brave man andwoman who leaves his orher country to fight cancome back in a casket is anunalterable truth of war.Bearing this in mind, America cannotsend her soldiers to foreign lands withoutgood reason; we may instead onlyput them in danger when the benefitsto the safety and security of our nationoutweigh the terrible toll of human lifeand limb. President Obama’s recent escalationof the war in Afghanistan doesnot pass that test: terrorists will thrive inAfghanistan whether it has a strong, prowesterngovernment or not, and a militaryoccupation of the area will only breedresentment and hatred among those wholive there. Thus, the best thing we can doIt is an unalterable truth ofwar that every man and womanwho leaves his or her countryto fight could come home in acasket.for our troops, for our nation, and for ourworld is send those fighters back to theirfamilies and take other, more effectivesteps to halt terrorism.Islamic extremism is primarilya religious and transnational movement,not a political organization, and suppressingit in Afghanistan will do little or nothingto stop its overall success. Because itis so diffuse and ingrained, it will not disintegrateif what it views as an imperialWestern power exerts military pressureagainst its members. Instead, the Talibanwill merely shrink into far off corners ofAfghanistan and Pakistan, where therehas been no effective central governmentor police for six thousand years, and everysingle military force since the Greekshas been ravaged by insurgents and guerillas.There, they will continue to planterrorist attacks with a renewed vigor.No army could occupy or control thesesemi-autonomous areas and we would befoolish to try; our last attempt in Vietnamended only with the loss of over 50,000soldiers. Occupation would also breed resentmentamong the local Pashtuns, eventhose not affiliated with the Taliban, andcollateral damage—accidental shootings,poorly aimed bombs, and other mishapscaused by the fog of war—would devas-12HM Review Vol. XIX
FeaturesTimetate the region and add to the povertythat drives so many unemployed youngmen to jihad. A U.S. drive to deny extremistsa safe haven in Afghanistan willfail, merely provoking them. While in theshort term they may retreat, in the longrun they will spring back more motivatedthan before.Even if an occupation only partiallyfails, the loss in space and resourcesfor Al Qaeda (which currently is not evenofficially affiliated with the Taliban, makingeven more tenuous the connectionbetween a strongAfghan governmentand safetyfrom terrorism)in Afghanistanwould not significantlyimpacttheir operations.Training terroristsdoes not requirelarge amounts ofland or labor; onlya few square mileswill suffice. Theycan make bombsin small apartments.Even if afew are caught,what can happento them? Twooptions presentthemselves: eitherthey are be summarilyexecuted,in which case theybecome martyrsfor Islam, or theyare sent to prisonand then released,Timein which case they rejoin the jihad withgreater resentment toward their captorsand a better knowledge of how the systemof capture and trial works. Neitheroption appeals, to say the least.History itself is telling concerningthe probability of success in eventemporarily occupying and building astable government in Afghanistan. Alexanderthe Great managed to hang ontoit only for a brief while, as did GenghisKahn; Britain did not keep it as a colonyfor very long and Russia bogged itselfdown in a war there that eventually led tothe fall of communism and the U.S.S.R.Nor have foreign interventions in otherlands proven themselves successful in recentyears. Somalia, for example, is still afailed state even after the United Nationsdeployed a peacekeeping force there (andironically, only began to see a rise in itsstandard of living after the peacekeepingforce left). After eight years of bloodshed,Iraq is about as stable as it was before theUnited States sent troops in, and althoughthe U.S. did remove a brutal dictator, theydid it at a cost of some three thousandlives and one trillion dollar—enough,more or less, to buy all Iraq’s land insteadof fighting for it (Iraq’s GDP was $19 billionin 2001 and 2002, and $12.5 billionin 2003). Everyone knows how Vietnamand Korea turned out. All these failedinterventions inspired what is known as“blowback” or resistance to military occupationfor ideological reasons. We canexpect the same blowback and failure inAfghanistan.Just because Islamic terrorism isan indestructible ideology does not meanwe cannot neuter it without massive lossof life; it merely means we must be morecareful in our fight. In our quest to makejihad against America cease, we must firstseek to minimize the collateral damage topeople and property and avoid the blowbackthat has caused previous attempts tomake peace to end in failure. We mustensure every strike against a member ofthe Taliban is exactly that, and not themurder of an innocent civilian. We mustuse our massive technological advantageeffectively, through precise surveillanceand proper targeting. We must foster relationshipswith the Afghan people, andinvest in development in their economy,so that they turn tohonest work andnot suicide bombing.We must notoccupy their landor remain an overbearingpresence intheir lives but insteadwatch carefullyfrom afar, destroyingonly what requiresit via tactical strikeswith drones andother, less invasivemeasures. This ishow we can suppressviolence and terrorsuccessfully andwith minimal loss oflife. We will succeednot through tearingdown but by buildingup, not throughkilling innocents butby singling out theguilty, not throughbrute force but byclever strategy, notthrough the dirtand grime of war but by the warm fire ofpeace and prosperity, interfering with thelives of the Afghan people only when utterlynecessary. If we leave the Afghansalone and give them no reason to hate us,but instead lend a helping hand in theirdevelopment, they will abandon the Taliban.The fanatics who are left will beabandoned in a dark corner of the country,helpless to harm the rest of the world.HMRJanuary 2010 HM Review 13
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