Another day, another air strike in Afghanistan by “NATO” forces has killed civilians according to the Afghan government (the people we put in power, not some bunch of “Commies” in Hanoi or “Islamofascists” in wherever the Talibam leadership is holed up).
A NATO airstrike in southern Afghanistan has killed 33 people after an aircraft fired on civilians mistakenly thought to be insurgents, the Afghan government said on Monday.
The Afghan cabinet condemned the killings near the border of Uruzgan and Dai Kondi provinces as “unjustifiable”. Such casualties are a major source of anger among Afghans and Sunday’s toll was the highest number of civilian deaths in months.
I have to wonder how long we as Americans expect this type of thing can continue and if our political and military leaders really believe this is a winning strategy for a conflict which has lasted over 8 years with no end in sight? My guess is that we will still be sending troops into harms way through at least 2012 (i.e., until the next Presidential election). In fact, I predict that should Obama lose in 2012 to whomever the Republicans run against him, we could be talking about an armed occupation that lasts well until 2020. And what will be the end result of all these killings?
Ask the British Empire. Or ask the Soviet Empire. Oh, wait, those empires no longer exist. Indeed, the Soviet war in Afghanistan contributed as much to the downfall of the “Evil Empire” as Ronald Reagan did or any other alleged cause.
So why are we repeating the same mistakes made by other “super powers” of the past? In a time of extraordinary economic decline for most Americans we continue to pour precious resources into a conflict that we cannot “win” whatever “metric” one uses to measure “winning.”
What we are doing there now makes little sense, unless our goal is to follow the British and Russians into second class economic status in the world. Maybe we should just send Goldman Sachs there to securitize and develop derivatives for the Afghan poppy producers and warlords. Their tried and true model for destroying the economies of nations seems to be quite successful. More successful than a military occupation with no end in sight, in any event.
Update [2010-2-22 9:34:55 by Steven D]: In answer to the question in my title, General Petraeus says it will go one for a very long time indeed.
