Afghanistan Turning From Sandbox Into Quicksand

From The CATO Institute:

Afghanistan Turning from Sandbox to Quicksand for U.S.


Thursday, June 10, 2010



Malou Innocent, foreign policy analystminnocent@cato.org:



It should come as no surprise that it will take longer than expected to reconstruct 30 years of destruction in Afghanistan.



Today, top U.S. and NATO commander, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, said the campaign to secure Kandahar, a key Taliban stronghold, will require more time than originally planned. The most astonishing part of Gen. McChrystal's admission was that it took him so long to reach it. There is good reason to be skeptical that the U.S.-led coalition can reduce violence, eradicate corruption, and build a capable Afghan government that can take over the fight before U.S. troops draw down next summer.



While Western leaders tend to blame the Afghan people for the mission's present failings, many of these problems reflect more the inherent complications of nation-building than an issue of the Afghans themselves. For sure, that country's amalgam of disparate tribal and ethnic groups, many of whom have historic grievances against the others, hampers stabilization and reconstruction efforts.



Unfortunately, however, people in Washington are too afraid to admit that we don't have all the answers. But if, as some people say, rebuilding Afghanistan is necessary for U.S. security, the only logical conclusion is that sometimes the necessary is the impossible.



It is time to scale back U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan before more damage is done—particularly with radical Muslims worldwide who are driven toward terrorist acts every day by interventionist U.S. foreign policies.