Disastrous Unreality About Afghanistan and Terrorism

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Disastrous Unreality About Afghanistan and Terrorism

Brian Tamanaha

President Obama's weekend visit to Afghanistan exposed how barren our policy there is. Obama once again justified our ramped up military presence in Afghanistan--with a sharp increase in military and civilian deaths and injuries--as essential to our anti-terrorism strategy, explaining that if the Taliban take over it will provide a safe haven for Al Qaeda. The defeat of the Taliban, in turn, depends upon the progress made by the Afghan government in fighting corruption and developing the rule of law. As a New York Times op-ed put it:



This hope is delusional, as the remainder http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/30/opinion/30tue1.html?hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1269979228-Yq6L5x/6QVKsyvVYSelYNw of the editorial makes clear (Karzai's most important political allies, as well as members of his family, are among the corrupt). No amount of jawboning is going to cure the systemic corruption that plagues the Afghan government. Building the rule of law, moreover, takes decades even under favorable circumstances.

But the greater error in this policy is that our military presence in Afghanistan is making the terrorism problem worse, not better, because it inflames Islamic radicalism worldwide--including homegrown terrorism. (Meanwhile, Al Qaeda has other places to seek refuge and locate training camps.)

The Obama Administration is enjoying the afterglow of its historic health care reform. But the Afghan war is a disaster in the making.

http://balkin.blogspot.com/2010/03/disastrous-unreality-about-afghanistan.html

The whole of Washington DC knows it.