“Know when to hold ’em, when to fold ’em, and when to walk away.” The war in Afghanistan has been the most egregious folly from the very start. As I think I said somewhere earlier, “Ask the British or the Russians what they think of fighting a war in Afghanistan!” The primary point is that neither the British, the Russians, nor the Americans have any business whatsoever meddling in Afghanistan! No matter what you think of their society, their politics, or their treatment of women, the intrusion of the Yankee Finger just mucks up the mud without accomplishing anything worthwhile, whatsoever. Sure, wouldn’t it be nice if Afghanistan were run by choirs of angels instead of the Taliban? Well, for that matter, choirs of angels would certainly do a better job of governing this country than the United States Congress! In fact, the dysfunction of the entire United States political establishment shrieks the case that it is time to re-evaluate the whole system, but that’s another issue, which I have already addressed previously, and more than once.
However, as a practical matter, the intrusion of the Yankee Finger into the affairs of Afghanistan have only exacerbated the problem (“When the Yankee Finger gets involved, it ****s up”). Oh, I said that the whole adventure has had no positive benefits whatsoever, but that depends on your point of view and the definition of “benefit.” I think some of the editorial news commentators have finally begun to express the fairly obvious fact that there have been some “winners” in the whole conflict ~ American arms manufacturers! I have mentioned that before, too, and it is an obscene and very frightening obituary for Democracy. As long as the mainstay of the American economy, arms manufacturers, make piles of money from wars and rumors of war all over the world, you may confidently predict that such wars will continue until Hell freezes over.
But I return to my primary point about the wargame adventures ~ they are counter-productive! We are beginning to see the return of partisan conflict in Afghanistan with the suicide bombers at the Kabul airport. Here we have ISIS-K vs. the Taliban. As long as the Yankees have a single boot on the ground, everyone in Afghanistan unites around the common enemy. But once those damned Yankees finally get the Hell out of there, then business as usual will once again supervene ~ the endless conflict of one faction against another, with tribal warlords and jihadists battling themselves into the dust. All the Americans have to do is step aside, and the problems in Afghanistan will take care of themselves! What a simple idea! What an effective idea! What an incredibly cheaper idea (sorry, ye American arms manufacturers)!
So all we have to do is stifle the war and weapons lobby ~ let the American arms manufacturers beat their swords into plowshares, or re-tool their factories to manufacture bicycles, or something equally useful, and give the rest of the world a break.
