Years ago when George W. Bush was president and ordered the invasion of Afghanistan, I asked my husband what Bush intended to do with all of the men who were the Taliban. It seemed obvious to me that unless there were some sort of unthinkable mass execution those men would still be there even if American troops won all sorts of skirmishes and held land. So Bush declared victory that wasn't victorious, Obama tried to withdraw down to a manageable number of troops to supervise a fragile coalition and Trump and Pompeo trumpeted to the heavens that they had signed an unprecedented peace deal just a few days ago. Of course the unprecedented followed a clear precedent because the deal that was signed was practically identical to other deals but Secretary Pomposity made it sound as though peace would fall like rain from heaven on the Afghanis because of the unprecedented actions of the great leader.
The US has launched heavy defensive strikes against the Taliban today. What happened to that glorious peace deal? When will we learn that none of this nonsense will work? We throw billions of American dollars and thousands of American lives at a problem that has no solution. I do pity the Afghanis, especially the women, who will still be living in abysmal conditions but sending Americans to change this country is never going to work. We might build schools, we might enlighten a few of the women and girls, but if there were ever a country that was both corrupt and a basket case it is Afghanistan.
I remarked, at the time of the beginning, that just quelling the battles wouldn't work because in their hearts the Taliban supporters wouldn't have changed. Sort makes understandable why white supremacist groups keep popping up.
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