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Earl Aagaard’s opinions about everything that interests him. Og also enjoys gardening, travel, reading, woodbutchery, and lots of other stuff.

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ARE YOU FEELING OPTIMISTIC ABOUT AFGHANISTAN, NOW THAT OUR PRESIDENT IS GOING TO CONCENTRATE ON IT?

Not to burst your bubble - well, actually…YES, to burst your bubble - but listen to Michael Yon, who has been in both Iraq and Afghanistan for months and months and months, and recently, too. He spends his time with the people and the troops, rather than with the press in the “safe areas”, and he BLOGS RIGHT HERE about it all.

When he heard about Senator Lieberman’s recent RATHER OPTIMISTIC SPEECH, he e-mailed the following:

Take all that, and be prepared to work for a century in Afghanistan. Afghanistan will not be a stable country ten years from now.

Truly, be prepared for a century of commitment. Most comparisons to Iraq are false or completely inappropriate. Iraq is a relatively advanced country. To compare Iraq to Afghanistan is to compare the United States to Mexico. Vietnam is incredibly more advanced than Afghanistan. One of the poorest countries on earth, Nepal, is by comparison to Afghanistan an advanced country.

We cannot allow ourselves to be deluded by the monumental task ahead in Afghanistan. Putting a man on the moon was simple by comparison.

This is a man who knows these countries and their people intimately. He is not saying that we should not take on the task - - he is attempting to get the American people to think carefully about the cost of the effort, and to steel themselves for what is coming. If we do nothing, we risk another failed state harboring our worst enemies, and we all know what happened the last time we ignored that situation. If we go in there and mess around for a while, then get tired of the effort and the sacrifice and so abandon it and come home, we will leave a situation even worse than exists today…..

I guess the question is whether Americans have the stomach for a long-term commitment to benefit the Afghan people, and (not incidentally) increase our own safety here at home.

It appears that we are going to find out in the fairly near future—I admit (sadly) that I’m not very optimistic about the outcome. I hope and pray that I’m wrong.

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 01/29 at 08:46 PM

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