The Afghan Solution

At last some of our military brass are beginning to sound more like peace network members than BushCo puppets. Sadly, though, it is still always the retired and not the active officers who speak out.

Still, it was encouraging to hear Retired Lieutenant General David Barno speaking out about the situation in Afghanistan this morning on Morning Edition. Since the beginning, my favorite question about our “war on terror” has been this: Who will be the next terrorist, the son whose father we kill or the father whose son we feed?

Here is some info on Gen. Barno from a report by Tom Brokaw: (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8246768/)
General David W. Barno is the former senior U.S. commander in Afghanistan. He was responsible for combating al-Qaida and members of the Taliban operating in the south and east of the country. Barno was also responsible for Coalition efforts in most of Pakistan as well as the southern parts of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. In 2004, Barno fended off allegations of prisoner abuse in Afghanistan. He promised to tone down his troops' aggressive search for Taliban-led insurgents and vowed to work with villagers to foster goodwill. Also in 2004, Barno famously predicted Osama bin Laden would be apprehended by the end of that year, saying, "The sands in the hourglass of all of the al-Qaida senior leadership is running out."

Obviously he is not always right, but this morning, Barno was quoted on Morning Edition as saying that there is no military solution to the problems we face in Afghanistan, and I believe that to be 100% accurate. Instead of military action, he said, we need to put 80% of our efforts into political, social, economic and health issues.

The problems are exacerbated, though, by the fact that the Karzai government that BushCo brought in to replace the Taliban constantly impedes any forward progress. There has been no effort made to coordinate reconstruction efforts or to facilitate the delivery of relief efforts to those in need.

To their credit, the Bush administration has backed the U.S. and Nato’s recent attempt to put Paddy Ashdown in place as a “super envoy” in Afghanistan. According to an article in Britain’s leading newspaper, The Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/12/04/washdown104.xml, “The new "super envoy" would have the same rank as the American and British ambassadors in Afghanistan. He would become the principal contact between President Hamid Karzai and both Nato and the UN.”

That sounds good, but Karzai has refused to cooperate. It seems that he is afraid that Ashdown will repeat what he did in the same role in Bosnia, which was to overrule the powers of the government. It is easy to understand why Karzai would be jealous of his power, but perhaps he needs to be reminded who obtained that power for him.

General Barno talks about his contact with local Afghani farmers and workers who have told him about the simple resources and training that they and their children need to be able to work their way back to a comfortable life.

Supporting those people is the kind of effort we need to make not only in Afghanistan, but also in Iraq and around the world. Wherever we encounter unrest, you can be sure that not far beneath the surface lies the inability to live comfortably in the face of political instability or tyranny. The problems underlying that situation are the key to the containment of terrorism. Those agitating for peace have always known that if we could first make the lives of the average citizen satisfactorily secure, we would face a greatly reduced amount of hostility around the world.

Barno has the right idea. If only the rest of the military would pay some attention. If only the rest of America would trade in John Wayne for Mother Teresa. And, if wishes were fishes . . .


Be the change you wish to see in the world. -- M. K. Gandhi

Individually we have little voice. Collectively we cannot be ignored.
But in silence we surrender our power. Yours in Peace -- BR

The reason for going was to keep the crude flowing and raise a false flag abroad. – from a poem by Jack Evans titled 3500 Souls - http://www.myspace.com/paralegal_eagle