Afghanistan 2

At this point, I don’t know what to think about whether or not we should have ever gone into Afghanistan in the first place. I used to believe it wasn’t necessary, and that getting rid of Al Qaeda should have been an intelligence and policing job. Now I don’t know anymore. The stick was used, but was the carrot even considered? Could some of the Taliban have been quietly lured away from their side? Could an internal division been encouraged and achieved? I don’t have any answer.

But since we used the stick and we are there, then what do we owe the Afghan people?
Physical safety. Yes.
Shelter. Yes
Food. Yes
Medical care. Yes
Literacy for all. Yes.
The right to disagree without being killed for it. Yes.
Western-style democracy. Hell, no.

Not only do we owe the Afghans this, we also owe it to people in Sudan, Congo, North Korea, anywhere where people’s lives are bad. Yeah, it would be very, very expensive. But compared to everyone else, the West is rich. We are the only ones who can afford to take this on. Would it entail a drop in our standard of living. Yes. A big drop. A huge drop. So what? We can afford it.

I think I’m advocating for a big UN Mission. I wasn’t planning on heading in that direction, but that appears to be it.