I never had a problem with sending troops to Afghanistan to get the people who trained and financed the 9/11 attackers. But I always thought it was a bit crazy to think that we should build an Afghan military that is more expensive to maintain than any central government there could ever afford. Not only does this strip Afghanistan on any real sovereignty (since they are perpetually dependent on outside financing), it turns us into their collections agent, as we are always looking to get paid first.
If I could rewind the tape and do things over, I would have gotten in and out of Afghanistan without making any commitments about the future of the country. And if we were going to try to help them have a decent government, I would have focused almost exclusively on setting up systems that would bring in revenues. Toll roads, for example, would have been a good idea.
As it is, we will leave Afghanistan after thirteen years of occupation and the government will have no money to maintain what we’ve built. They’ll have no choice but to seek money from the opium trade, and we’ll have no choice but to look the other way.
And, frankly, what I’ve laid out is the optimistic viewpoint.
