We bribed the various tribal leaders to pull together (the Northern Alliance), at least temporarily, to fight their common enemy the Taliban. They did, the Taliban abdicated, the terrorist bases were closed, and Osama went underground. So why didn't we just have a parade, declare victory, and come back home?
Why did we stay and try our hand at "nation building"? First of all, Afghanistan, like most Middle Eastern countries, isn't really a "country" at all. It's just a bunch of tribes that were arbitrarily fenced in together by a line drawn on a map by their colonial "protectors" a century ago. Their loyalties are to their tribe. Period.
The three richest men in Afghanistan?
And now the Afghan Supremo Crooko, el Presidente Humid Carbide, is telling us he is breaking off "long-term security talks" with the US because we dissed him. Well cry me a river, Humid.
Why do we keep sending him his monthly shakedown? As with most of the foreign aid we send to Mid-East "leaders", little makes it to the people. Most stops with the leaders and their families and cronies.
Listen up Humid...."long term" to you means about 30 seconds after the last US soldier gets back on the plane and comes home. That's about how long it will take for your Afghan "security detail" to sell you out for a couple of goats and whack you and return life to the tribal warfare that has been the Afghan way for eons. The Brits didn't change it. The Rooskies didn't change it. And neither did we.
We can just keep an eye on any terrorist activity that might pop up there and impact us. If we find any we can just send in another CIA agent with another suitcase full of cash to bribe the appropriate warlord, things "happen", and the problem goes away. Easy. Then they can go back to living their life however they want. Live and let live I say. Er....
I call it "Scott's Foreign Policy". I doubt they'll be teaching it at the Harvard School of International Relations. They should. What they're teaching now isn't working.
S
