Barack Obama must go to bed each night cursing George Bush.Not only did he leave him with a messed up economy, he has left him with two wars to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Two wars!Now the wars are Obama's. He has already sent additional 20,000 troops to Afghanistan in the hope that this do the job against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.Will it work?Already support for the war is waning,especially as we get almost daily reports of British troops who have been killed by a sniper or an IED.We are questioning the reason why we are there. We are clearly a long way from 2001, when the United States invaded Afghanistan determined to kick Al-Qaeda a serious kicking.After 9/11, the United States wanted revenge and Tony Blair was keen to be deputy sheriff.But here we are in 2009, and we are still bogged down, fighting the insurgents with no end in sight.The Western powers cannot win this war,despite haveing the technological edge.
If that weren't enough, the government in Kabul is corrupt, and its authority is in question.
The recent election has not been decided, as there is a strong feeling that there were serious incidents of fraud.
When is this going to end?
I think that Afghanistan should be partitioned. Those who want to live under the rule of the Taliban should live in one part of Afghanistan, and the others who want to live under a modern emerging democracy live in another.I know that the Taliban are barbarians who have zero interest in female equality or democracy.But we cannot kill them all.I can think of no other solution. We can remain there forever,and yet the longer we stay the more we will alienate the Afghan people.Just look at the recent air strike of the oil tanker or the rescue of Stephen Farrell.We cannot win if we continue to piss the Afghan people off.It's as simple as that.It's the golden rule of counter insurgency.
We need to withdraw and let Afghanistan decide its own future.
