Never learn 120411

At the end of the Vietnam conflict a senior American officer taunted a senior NVA officer that the North had never won a battle during the war.  The NVA officer responded that it was irrelevant because they won the war.

An American General recently berated the Afghans for not appreciating all the Americans were doing for the country.  It was clear from his interview that despite ten years in Afghanistan the General still did not understand the culture or blunders his Army had made during its occupation.  He pointed to the country’s army once it completed American training as a future success.

Wait a minute General haven’t you been training that Army for over ten year?  Considering that the training program began with history’s greatest and most experienced warriors your training program seems to have a few problems.  Afghans stood off the Persians, fought Alexander to a standstill, absorbed the Great Khan’s forces, captured much of India, and defeated the British three times.  The British claim their third occupation attempt is really a victory, but they left despite their use of chemical weapons, aerial annihilation and concentration camps.  The country became a Cold War battlefield when the Soviets attempted to prop up a friendly government and Afghan fighters forced a withdrawal.  American supplied weapons brought local warlords to power and a bloody civil war ensued until the Taliban brought a degree of peace to the country.

Afghans have long memories and astute judgement of realities over propaganda.  Comparing the Soviet and American occupations the Afghans see Soviet built roads, hospitals, schools and housing.  Despite American crowing the Afghans see military roads leading to permanent American occupation forts, corruption and blatant attempts at destruction of their culture.  America has dumped a great deal of money into the country attempting to establish a little America that the Afghans don’t want and can’t afford once foreign aid ends.

When the Americans invaded, fragile victory could have resulted in good government and lasting peace.  Instead under U.S. Army’s flawed assumptions the country was burdened with puppets prohibited from negotiating a settlement.  For the Army all “Rag Heads” were the enemy and with a beard they were evil.  Now over ten years later the Army wants negotiations with the insurgents but have a missed opportunity that is remembered.  Afghans remember indiscriminate bombing, imprisonments and cover-ups. 

General, Americans are easy to deceive because they want to believe their own propaganda.  Building your new propaganda radio station on Kandahar air base to preach American gospel is counter productive.  The Afghans remember that Kandahar base was American built in the fifties as a cold war base, and became an invasion base fifty years later.  The American administration wants its army out by 2012 but the military is already pushing the withdrawal years down the road.  There are all those new American bases to use and besides it’s the only war it has left.  General, keep wondering why the Afghans don’t love you.