America: Don't Be Ashamed

It is true that America, the world’s sole super power, has been defeated in Afghanistan after maintaining its presence there for ten years. It is now accusing our Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of aiding the Haqqani Network in Afghanistan. The problem is that they are blaming others for their own failures.

Former U.S. President Reagan used to invite these same people to the White House for tea when he was fighting the Soviets. Now, Obama must learn to talk to their sons. These people are not hidden from the CIA. It is not very difficult to locate them, even if they are hiding in caves. It is easy to say that the Pakistani army and establishment are against America, but the issue is not that simple. Obama is blaming the ISI just to have an excuse to leave Afghanistan.

The real problem is that Afghans do not like their lands to be occupied. Just look at their history. The British and the Soviets both encountered defeats there. America has been defeated there as well. The Afghans have never let anyone occupy them. Despite America’s sophisticated military weapons, it has not been victorious. It can occupy most places in the world with its great technology, but it cannot do anything in Afghanistan. Their defeat there shows that war is not the solution in Afghanistan. They have had over 140,000 troops there but they have not been to subjugate the Afghan people.

America: Why are you blaming us for your failures in this region? You have been failing here since the 1980s. You know that the Haqqani Network maintains its presence in only seven provinces in Afghanistan. Why can’t you defeat them with your 140,000 troops? If you can’t defeat them with all your soldiers and power, then how do you expect a small country like Pakistan to do so?

America must consult with the Afghans and talk about what’s best for everyone, just as it did with the Viet Cong. It tried to use war to interfere with internal politics and problems of Vietnam and Cambodia then, just as it is trying to interfere with Pakistan’s sovereignty now. We know that it has been secretly talking to the Taliban. It has not been successful in this dialogue because it is not bringing all parties who hold a stake in this problem to the table. This hypocritical approach is exactly what brought about its failures in Vietnam. America: You know exactly what you have been doing all these years, so why are you feeling ashamed now?