In an effort seemingly aimed at reassuring Afghan President Hamid Karzai of the long-term US dominance of his nation, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today vowed that the US will never again “neglect” Afghanistan.
“This commitment, Mr. President, will endure long after US combat troops have left because we have learned the lessons of the past,” insisted Clinton, who frequently cited 9/11 during the announcement.
Though the pledge may indeed reassure President Karzai and his cronies, it may well have the opposite effect on the Afghan public, increasingly wary of the US and its repeated attacks on civilians.
After years of backing insurgents against the Soviet occupation, the US never fully “abandoned” the region as officials suggest, however. The US government was actually openly funding the Taliban right up until mid-2001 in the name of the “war on drugs.”
Since the late 2001 invasion, the US has repeatedly escalated the war in Afghanistan, and now has nearly 100,000 troops in the nation. Though there are suggestions that the number of troops may drop eventually, most expect that the military operation will continue for at least another decade, as the Taliban continues to enjoy considerable influence across the nation.
Karzai has all the cards.
Why NOT score another trillion and kick the US out on its ass at the same time?
As the Pashtun said, "You can rent us but you cannot buy us."
The rent just went up tenfold.
The US, and it politcal and military and diplomatic incompetents are way over their heads. And they are just the most recent in a long line of incompetents.
It is not for the Christian White
To hustle the Asian Brown
For the Christian riles
And the Asian smiles
And weareth the Christian down
At the end of the fight
Like a tombstone white
With the name of the last deceased;
And the epitaph drear
A fool lies here
Who tried to hustle the East
Rudyard Kipling.
…In his sleeves, which were long,
He had twenty-four packs, —
Which was coming it strong,
Yet I state but the facts;
And we found on his nails, which were taper,
What is frequent in tapers, — that's wax.
Which is why I remark,
And my language is plain,
That for ways that are dark
And for tricks that are vain,
The heathen Chinee is peculiar, —
Which the same I am free to maintain.
Bret Harte
President O'BushBama is just another despicable, ingrate, cretin which is why I didn't vote for him or McCain. O'BushBama was/is long on platitudes, that's all.
After his triumphant tour of Washington, does Karzai do Beijing and Tehran again?
Is it too early to posit an exchange of state visits–perish the thought–with the Russian Federation?
Where's the "change"?