Only Thing Worse Than a Prolonged Afghan War is a Taliban Victory

by Daniel J Gerstle · 2009-10-28 11:24:00 UTC
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UNAMA, Bamiyan, Afghanistan, 2009.Let's start with the hottest debate on the US political scene. Today gunmen attacked a UN compound in Kabul, killing six, and screaming through a bullhorn how volatile the situation is in Afghanistan.

The progressive community appears to be divided, perplexed perhaps, over how to advocate for US strategy in Afghanistan. Dove progressives like Rory Stewart, the Director of the Carr Center for Human Rights at Harvard, as well as a handful of cautious liberal Democratic politicians, are advocating for the US to withdraw and remain focused only on development and precise counter-terrorism. They argue that every time the coalition crosses through a village, it leaves a crater-sized footprint which angers the locals. Most of us agree, but... Meanwhile, rule-of-law progressives argue that the only thing worse than the US-led coalition prolonging the war would be a Taliban win.

Here's a video from the last time the Taliban were poised to take over. An old friend of mine was an advisor to former socialist President Najibullah. When the Taliban arrived, they hung Najibullah from a tank turret. My friend's wife was shot in an attempt to murder him and he fled to India with their children. Thousands were killed or expelled simply for being part of the cultural elite. All females were forbidden from attending school or working. Some fear that if the US withdrew, Afghanistan would face a precipice ten times as deep as that of Srebrenica in 1995, which is being re-examined this fall at the Karadzic trial in The Hague.  And if that doesn't persuade, which gang of misanthropes do you think are going to be the guest of honor at the victory table?

Is there a well-thought, unified approach for those of us who are both opposed to a Taliban win and opposed to a prolonged US-led war to stand behind given that ranking US generals do not believe that the Afghan Army is ready to survive without the US? What would you recommend? I'll follow up with some of your answers.

[Photo UNAMA, Bamiyan, Afghanistan, 2009.]

Daniel J Gerstle is a journalist, human rights researcher, and humanitarian aid consultant. He is Editor and Chief Correspondent for HELO: The Crisis Story Magazine.
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