It appears that Pakistan's newly elected leader, Imran Khan, has a mind of his own when it comes to the US campaign in Afghanistan.
I can't say I blame him. As I've said many times before in these pages (most recently just last week), there is no military solution possible in Afghanistan. If that's the case, why are we still fighting there? Better to cut our losses and leave, rather than lose more American lives in a hopeless cause.
Yes, there are those who'll argue that by being there, we prevent other powers from moving into the vacuum that would be left by our departure. They point to Iran as wanting to draw Afghanistan into its sphere of influence, to control it, to use it (and its fighters) as a springboard for expansion into the Middle East and Asia. Well, good luck with that! Let's see what happens when Pashtun meets Persian. Past history suggests it won't be pleasant - or productive - for either side. As for possible Chinese intervention . . . they've got enough problems with their Uighur population. If they want to add Afghanistan to that, they're crazy - but perhaps we should encourage them, if only so they can find out that some games aren't worth the candle.
Peter
5 comments:
we needed to learn the lessons that the British, the Russians, the Greeks, and all the other outsiders from history learned from their time in the sand box. there will never be peace in east asia as long as there is people there. anyone thinking still that peace in east asia is is possible, is a fool.
There's a military solution available in Afghanistan. It just involves nuclear carpet bombing, which far too many object to.
Hey Everybody!!!! I know how to fix Afghanistan!
Give it to Iran,
Trump seems to have put Afghanistan into a holding pattern/ on the back burner with minor tweaking. He I mproved the rules of engagement and allowed a lot more bombing missions. Probably resulted in higher Taliban casualties. He also allowed the military to go after the drug trade.
I’m not sure why we are hearing so much about Afghanistan right now.
Pakistan and Iran both hate the us and support the Taliban. I’m not sure about Russia, what they are up to in Afghanistan. Pakistan’s influence is decking with the Iran / Afghan rail / port project.
The Chinese have blinded themsleves into believing that there a superpower to be contended with. So they figure that Afghanistan is an easy sandbox to practice. Unfortunately, when the only sons get killed and the latent social tensions within the Chinese military reflecting the society litterally explode. The Chinese will have squandered a lot of treasure and blood
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