Italy was occupied by Germany at the end, but for most of the war they were against the US. And Germany and Japan were against the US the whole war. Finally, if this article is to be believed, the Afghans are “occupied” by the Taliban and would be glad to be free of the oppressors by the valiant liberating American army (but then again, if the article is to be believed, the Afghans have somehow figured out how to hijack a plane and fly it into a building using nothing but Stone Age technology).
There is a way to take over Afghanistan and to create a culture which supports us and our interests. I just don’t know what that way is.
But I think that there are ways to fight guerillas that the US perhaps hasn’t considered. What if we require everyone to carry identification, and require that everyone get permission every time they want to travel? What if we do random searches of villages? What if we plant hidden cameras and listening devices in villages? What if we require that every piece of food be inventoried so that peasents can’t sneak food to the guerillas?
When suggesting that a country can be successfully occupied.
I don’t care who wrote that article or what he claims to feel for his sufforing people, there is never a good chance of success when an outsider wants to occupy any coutry with a fighting force. Just look at the history of Afghanistan and the invaders they have resisted.
Afganis may rally around Taleban if a foreign invader was claiming to “Liberate” them, as I have read on Afghan News Network. One faction fighting against Taleban has already declared as much. The fact that we think we are doing a good thing does not change that reality.
OTOH, we know we will have to face this possibility if they cantinue to help terrorists, and even if they were to stop completely today, we still want to hold them accountable for what they have seemingly participated in already. The question is how? Shit. Maybe we should go in, surround major population areas (that’s not easy since most people have left the cities), and provide plenty of food, medicine, etc. to any who wish to enter these secured areas. Just check your guns at the door, and get I.D.ed. And if there is actually a way of cutting off supplies from Taleban, they may eventually want to come in from the cold.
I feel compelled to echo the sentiment of those who counsel caution. We can’t just charge in, guns a-blazing. Anyway, here are my thoughts:
There are really two goals here: (1) revenge/justice; and (2)incapacitation.
While revenge is an important goal too, IMHO, incapacitation is at least as, if not more important. We all know that given enough time and resources, the “bad guys” will hit us with a nuclear or biological attack.
And to achieve incapacitation, we don’t necessarily need to root out every last terrorist. If they are hiding in caves, leading the lives of hunted animals, it will be much harder, IMHO, for them to prepare for the next attack.
As far as revenge/justice goes, perhaps we can convince the locals to stand aside while we pursue the hated minority described in the article. If not, we’re in for a tough time.
God, Zenster, I am so fucking sick of you. It wasn’t long ago that you were posting recipes and debating Zen Kyoan. What happened to you?
I know that this isn’t what you think you mean, but you are basically saying that innocent blood was spilled in New York, and it is therefore somehow fair for us to spill more innocent blood in Afghanistan. And I can’t believe I am now speaking in your same pseudo-poetic jingoistic bullshit language.
Innocence is innocence. Just going in and killing more people won’t solve anything. We are better than the people who carried out the attacks. We do not act in blind rage…or at least we try to avoid it to a certain degree. Lucky for the rest of the world you are not in charge of American foreign policy.
I can’t wait until things calm down and all the good people on this board who have been turned into mindless drooling flesh-eating bloodthirsty nationalists return to normal.
I think that events have shown Tamim Ansary to be wrong in a number of areas.
What I want to add is that a journalist here in Australia received this email and decided to ring up the guy and do an interview.
I heard it just a few hours ago.
And the first thing that hits you is that he doesn’t really care about the terrorists. What he wants is the eradication of the Taliban and the return of his country to some semblance of normality. He is of the opinion that no matter what Bush does now, it won’t work because the only answer is to take the long view.
Unfortunately for Tamim Ansary, BUsh isn’t after the Taliban, and the only way that Bush will really help the Afghani people will be in an advertant by-product, if he is capable of helping at all.
No American influence in Afghanistan eh? Nevermind that 132 million dollars of tax payers’ money went to Afghanistan last year in aid.
Women in Afghanistan are not only killed because of “religious sacrilege”, but 75% of all women imprisoned in Afghanistan, were victims of rape. That’s why they are in prison. Other rape victims are stoned to death. Often turned over to the town by the women in their families so that her rape will not dishonor her family.
To any woman who that she had it bad in America, take a look at what goes on in other countries and you’ll notice how lucky we are to be in the United States.
We took over Japan and West Germany and created cultures that support us and our interests. I’d imagine that the only way to do that in Afghanistan would be to teach the people there what the Koran actually says, not what the Taliban say it says. We don’t want to replace their culture with western culture, but should work at changing the dangerous aspects of it.
The talk show host mentioned, Ronn Owens, has placed an audio file of his interview of Tamim Ansary on his web page. Look right underneath the picture of the US flag.