Once again the US military is being criticized by President Karzai and the citizens of Afghanistan for the murder of innocent civilians. The official US report is that the fifteen killed were all militants, including a girl armed with an RPG. The Afghans are reporting at least two women and three children were among the dead. These deaths of innocents are referred to as collateral damage in reports, rather than we screwed up and killed the wrong people.
No doubt during the week ahead the numbers will change from both sides. The sad truth of the matter is that in this war in Afghanistan, as it was during much of the war in Viet Nam, the enemy does not wear a uniform and is often part of the local populace. Civilians are going to pay the price and the question is at what cost?
President Karzai is up for recollection later this year. The Obama Administration will need to decide if the USA will continue to support Karzai, or if it is time to support someone stronger and more dynamic. Of course, the truth is the Afghan people are the ones who need to make the decision. The US goal is to get bin Laden and destroy Al Queda, we should not be controlling elections or making national decisions for other countries.
After doing some reading on the Taliban, I for one do not understand why any country would want to be ruled by a group of ignorant militants who have such a narrow and misconceived religious view. However, all reports are that the Taliban is on the rise. Now it could be because of the religious schools that only males attend that spew out fanatical garbage, but unless main stream Afghans can get their act together, it is a real possibility that the Taliban will be back in power.
For the time being all we can do is watch what the Obama Administration does. How soon will more troops be made available to the Afghanistan effort? What is the overall vision for Afghanistan? If we get bin Laden will we abandon Afghanistan like we did when they drove the Soviets out?
A lot of questions with no answers. Let's hope that action is taken in the near future before we are in an even bigger mess.
Its Common Sense!
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I for one do not understand why any country would want to be ruled by a group of ignorant militants who have such a narrow and misconceived religious view.
Not clear that anyone does, but there is certainly a constituency who find the lure of power, even in the form of a Taliban led theocracy, to enticing to resist. Much like there's a certain constituency in the US that found a Republican-led oligarchy to be the better alternative--despite its habit of impoverishing the very people who support it.
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