Let’s Stop Kidding Ourselves About Afghanistan

The West has lost its patience; it wants out of Afghanistan. But arguments in favor of a quick exit are specious. Isn’t it high time to try some honesty? The West is simply no longer capable of fighting policy wars. Now two Eastern nations are being asked to do so.

The West is getting out of Afghanistan – at least in spirit. The voices calling for exit strategies are becoming louder and experts increasingly debate the notion whether al-Qaeda really still needs the Hindu Kush as a safe haven.

Can’t terrorist attacks be planned in Sudan, Somalia, Pakistan or even in the suburbs of London, Paris and New York just as easily? Certainly, so let’s leave now. But we do need to stay in Pakistan because Islamabad has The Bomb.

But just how does one run away without losing face? The answers to that are as plentiful as they are sneaky: first, you claim that the bunch of armed men that calls itself the Afghan Army, already starting to look pretty snappy, is actually fit to do the job. Naturally, those boys still need the watchful eye of the Americans and Europeans to ensure they learn how to crawl menacingly through the dust in the proper manner – and a few more of them wouldn’t hurt, either – but by next year the Afghans should at least be ready to take over in the northern regions of the country. NATO wants it that way and the Germans cheer loudly.

Needless to say, the public first has to be apprised of something that no one ever suspected, something that was a deep secret and is deeply shocking. Namely – you’ll never believe this – that Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan’s knight in shining armor, is corrupt, bribable and devious; in short, he’s completely depraved. And we’re supposed to sacrifice our soldier’s lives for that? No way! Or maybe we should. But one thing became certain long ago: corruption, your name is Afghanistan.

Since the time of Abdul-Rahm Kahn (1880-1901), King Amanullah (1919-1929) and Zahir Shah (1933-1973), in short since the day Afghanistan could be called a “modern nation,” albeit one that had no governmental framework, cronyism, bribery and “might makes right” has ruled the country. The communists and the Soviet Union did little to improve things since 1980. On the contrary, they made things worse and in the bargain picked up allies in the form of the Taliban from 1994 onward.

True, they tried to bring order to the country since 2001, but they did nothing to create a governmental framework. Who is surprised when the World Bank designates Afghanistan as one of the most corrupt spots on the globe? Who is surprised to discover that the Afghan people consider corruption to be business as usual and part of everyday life? That survey, by the way, didn’t come out of the CIA’s secret files; it was just recently made public. The independent organization Integrity Afghanistan Watch commissioned the survey in 2006. In it, fifty percent of those asked admitted to having paid bribes during the past six months.

Hamid Karzai isn’t the root of all evil; he’s just the result of it – like all who have sat in his position. Europeans know that, yet they feign outrage. Blaming Karzai fits right in with the plan.

Isn’t it high time to finally be honest? The West has lost its patience and wants to get out of Afghanistan. Walter Laquer, the grand old chief strategist of Washington’s CSIS think-tank recently wrote that the weakness in U.S. strategy for decades has been to try to accomplish the labors of Hercules for little monetary cost and with as few soldiers as possible. The Europeans do the same. But success in Afghanistan hasn’t been forthcoming with this strategy. Even worse: the West is no longer capable of fighting policy wars. Perhaps it never was.

So what will be the outcome? For future conflicts it means sticking to precisely achievable goals and doing without the usual sermons about turning the crisis nation into a democracy. With regard to Afghanistan, it means adopting new diplomatic and military initiatives. Russia and China have to take more responsibility.

If the military leaves Afghanistan, China and Russia will be the first to feel the effects of the Islamists. Perhaps there should be a massive troop surge for one final offensive against the Taliban. But one thing is certain about Afghanistan: it’s time to stop kidding ourselves.