Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel expressed growing frustration about the Karzai government’s refusal to sign the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA), saying they “can’t just keep deferring and deferring” because it’s screwing up Pentagon plans.
The BSA would keep US troops in Afghanistan “through 2024 and beyond,” and US officials have repeatedly demanded President Hamid Karzai sign the pact, though he has insisted he won’t do so until after the April election that ends his term in office.
Hagel claimed Karzai’s position on the BSA “changes constantly” and that he isn’t sure what the Afghan president’s current position is. In every public statement for months, Karzai has said he won’t sign the deal.
Initially, the US set an ultimatum of December 31 to sign the deal, but after Karzai refused and the deadline passed, they have said the new deadline is “weeks, not months.” Officials initially threatened to withdraw outright if Karzai didn’t sign off on the deal, though the Pentagon has repeatedly confirmed that not occupying Afghanistan for years to come hasn’t been seriously considered as an option.
The deal contains extra-territorial provisions that effectively insulate U.S. troops from the jurisdiction of Afghan courts. This is probably a hard pill to swallow, and face it, Afghan civilians have been repeatedly brutalized by drones, night attacks, what have you, and never received satisfaction from our military justice system or our Congress. So, should we expect that the aid promised by the BSA is worth it to the Afghan government- whether or not the government is corrupt- when its people are dying because of mistakes made by our intelligence services, or where they have no way of holding accountable those who are killing their people? Add to this the fact that while the U.S. military can always wreak destruction wherever it goes, it will never prevail in a 'long war' in Afghanistan, and the Afghan government knows it. The mineral wealth we seek to exploit may be worth trillions, but in the end the opportunity cost is not worth it with the strategy we are using. Political vacuum or not- it seems preferable to pull our military out, regroup and seek to do business on a non-coercive basis.
Lets see who will blink first.
If Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel wants to brush up his persuasive powers he could start closer ro home by helping his boss cure the foot dragging by Mitch McConnell and John Boehner.
Now that we appear to have done such a very good job of teaching the Afghans our particular brand of democracy it may be time to pull out and let them find their own way from now on.
Since a majority of the American people have decided that both the invasion of Iraq and the Afghani "adventure" have been failures there is no reason to remain. Even the American people understand that continuing to do something that has failed is stupid so there will probably be little complaint from the people upon leaving. Now, those who are benefiting from these wars will loudly scream that we're admitting that all those killed and all that money spent were wasted – and they'll be correct. But the waste will still be relevant if we stay any longer. There is no fixing this debacle. The politicians who invested their positions and reputations, such as they are (and earning a fat return) btw will scream the loudest declaring that we've caved to the terrorists and disrespected our military "heroes" – just like we did when we pulled out of Viet Nam with our tails between our legs.
The failure, if examined closely and even-handed will prove clearly that the failure was completely by those who lied to the American people and then trampled our "freedoms" and "rights" to cover up their failures.
Since a majority of the American people have decided that both the invasion of Iraq and the Afghani "adventure" have been failures there is no reason to remain. Even the American people understand that continuing to do something that has failed is stupid so there will probably be little complaint from the people upon leaving. Now, those who are benefiting from these wars will loudly scream that we're admitting that all those Americans killed and all that money spent were wasted – and they'll be correct. But the waste will still be relevant if we stay any longer. There is no fixing this debacle. The politicians who invested their positions and reputations, such as they are (and earning a fat return) btw will scream the loudest declaring that we've caved to the terrorists and disrespected our military "heroes" – just like we did when we pulled out of Viet Nam with our tails between our legs.
The failure, if examined closely and even-handed will prove clearly that the failure was completely by those who lied to the American people and then trampled our "freedoms" and "rights" to cover up their failures.