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| Afghanistan | |
| Prospect of More U.S. Troops Worries Afghan Public | |
| 2009-11-07 | |
| From the NY Slimes, a bucket of old chestnuts: In bazaars and university corridors across the country, eight years of war have left people exhausted and impatient. Completely ignore the 22 years of invasion and rule by terrorists that provoked the US to show up in force in 2001. "In the first days of the war, the Americans defeated the Taliban in just a few days," said Mohammed Shefi, a graduate student in the pharmacy school at Kabul University. "Now they have more than 60,000 forces and they cannot defeat them." Mohammed wouldn't recognize a real Taliban defeat if it bit him in the rear. Maybe he'll see the light when his head is cut off by his beloved Taliban. Afghanistan has pharmacies? With less certainty about America's continued commitment, there is a growing sense that the only sure way to peace is through negotiations with the Taliban. "They are the sons of this country, it is right to negotiate with the Taliban," said Mohammed Younnis, a shopkeeper in Charikar who sells tea, sugar and grains. "This government is Afghan, and the Taliban are Afghan; they should build the country together," he said. Mohammed and Osama bin Laden are Afghan too, by his calculation.
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| Posted by:Anguper Hupomosing9418 |
| #4 I am still of the mind that Afghanistan might have been saved, if from the very beginning we entered the place with the intention of completely rewriting it. If it was Afghan, get rid of it and replace it with something known to work elsewhere. A MacArthur (PBUH) constitution, mandatory western style public boarding schools for all children, the complete reeducation of all civil servants to western style performance and merit based promotion. And most of all, a jobs program for every unemployed male. Because their typical wage is bird seed, we could have done that for just $1B a year. Yes, we would still have been fighting al-Qaeda and Taliban just as fiercely. But at least there would have been a long term accomplishment, instead of just doing it for the sake of doing it. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2009-11-07 18:21 |
| #3 Thanks Frank, I should have thought of that :-) |
| Posted by: Steve White 2009-11-07 15:27 |
| #2 Afghanistan has pharmacies? "You have a cold. We will treat it with opium." "You have polio. We will treat it with opium" "You have acne. We will treat it with opium" "You are addicted to opium. We will treat it with opium" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-11-07 13:54 |
| #1 If the NYT claims Afghans are worried now, wait till the US pulls out. Expect boat people from land locked Afghanistan. |
| Posted by: ed 2009-11-07 12:30 |