Firsthand Look

KT questions U.S. mission in Afghanistan after 10-day visit

Transcript:

I’ve just spent ten days in Afghanistan and can’t see a scenario where this ends well.

First, it’s not clear what our mission is – to defeat and destroy Al Qaeda? Create democracy? Promote social and economic development?  They’re all noble goals, but they require different means and resources.

Second, Afghanistan’s fate is tied to Pakistan’s – and Pakistan is edging toward chaos.

Third, it’s not clear who the enemy is. There are several Afghan militant groups  – and they’re fighting each other as much as us.

Fourth, the Karzai Govt is hopelessly corrupt. His brother is Afghanistan’s leading drug traffickers; his running mate  a notorious warlord with a record of murder, rape and looting.  Yet Karzai is seen as America’s chosen one.

Fifth, there is growing anti-American sentiment. After 8 years and over $30 billion dollars, we’ve failed to connect with afghan society.  Our state-of-the-art bases are behind concrete walls concertina wire; our military and civilian personnel are prohibited from venturing outside; the money we’ve spent hasn’t gone toward creating afghan jobs, but to foreign contractors who fly in laborers from the Philippines and Ukraine.

Obama’s decision to replace gen mckiernan with the counter insurgency experts who turned the Iraq war around is a good move. But Afghanistan will make Iraq look like child’s play.