You’re right, of course, that the region has been the playground of world powers for longer than most of us have been alive (depending on how far back you want to take the Great Game), and that we have added to the mess over the last 30 years. Reap what you sow – that kind of thing.

And yes, my main point is that Afghans don’t care who is in the White House (although they are happy about Obama, mostly from the Muslim/non-white perspective).

I once had an interesting conversation with my translator in Kabul. We got to talking about 9/11, and he said that 3 million Americans had died. I politely told him it was only about 3,000. He insisted – no, it was 3 million. Once I convinced him that it was only a few thousand, he just looked at me with a gaping mouth – stunned. I realized what he never said to me directly – he didn’t understand why his country was made to suffer for the last 8 years because of only 3,000 people.

Information, when it makes it to ordinary Afghans, is often diluted, altered, or flat wrong. That’s why dropping bombs has such a huge impact on them – it’s the one message that can’t be misinterpreted. It’s the one form of communication between them and us that is direct, unfiltered, un-propagandized. It’s not “accidental” casualties. It just IS.

How you win an insurgency with those kind of tactics – ones that directly cause innocent lives to be lost – I don’t know.

Because the entire point of the post was that parties don’t matter to real Afghans, and given that I base much of what I say on personal experience in Afghanistan and living in India, I would’ve thought I was actually being “non-partisan.”

In order for any organization to act with ethics & morality the rank and file support (or apathy) must be in place. Never mistake ‘apparent ethics’ for the genuine article. Sadly, we’re saddled with the shortcomings AND best qualities of the humans occupying the earth, each of which is a ‘nation unto itself’ on a small scale. Therefore, the most we can realistically strive for AND be able to achieve is a consensus of what is best for most and implement the same.

Man is by nature arrogant as it’s a survival technique as ingrained as the need to reproduce. Arrogance tempered by compassion, intellect, and fairness is a large component of leadership. Arrogance without these traits as a minimum guiding factor will lead to disruption of the social order. This can be from simple neighborhood disputes to all-out warfare. The key is to fight the battles with at least a chance of success, avoid engaging in lost causes, and working from within to change society in a positive way. I dread to think of the havoc any ‘intelligence’, police, military, or other powerful entity would cause if not comprised mainly of folks with the temperament necessary to rein in the excesses of those lacking in ‘basic humanity’. As evil and unpalatable as the image of such organizations can be, they ARE necessary to keep society safe from those who would use power without the restrictions imposed by conscience.

When an apathetic and ill-informed citizenry allows corruption to rise to the upper echelons of any society and gives them free reign over all aspects of the society, the result is often war, poverty, imperialism, and many other detrimental consequences. Without citizen oversight, involvement, and control, no society can long resist falling victim to the worst of human nature inflicted by those who would attain power and instill corruption. In the final analysis we’re ALL responsible for shaping society and EVERY human entity is, at its core, still comprised of individual human ‘cogs’ with the power to act or ignore how they live.

The ‘plan’ wasn’t new OR unique; what WAS was the Dumbya folks trying to hide it so they could ‘expand’ the scope. One of the REAL problems is that we’ve always been as bad as the British on foreign matters involving less powerful peoples. The Brits were great at the practice of arbitrarily assigning lands & borders without any thought as to the occupants, usually just prior to leaving a territory to govern itself as the newly minted countries.

Our weak point is our penchant for backing the less than reliable resistance groups in countries undergoing turmoil & change at the point of a rifle. We have few to blame for the present conditions in Afghanistan other than our overzealous leaders of every political stripe. Having been personally involved in execution (and often attempted correction) of those policies, the best example of this is likely Afghanistan. We pulled out all the stops as directed by the politicians in charge at the time and armed & trained the Mujahadeen against the Russians who were propping up the Afghan government, which was an acceptable excuse. And, may I add, AGAINST the advice and over the loud protestations of myself & most of my career (non-political) colleagues The real issues involved went, and still go far deeper.

After the Russians declared failure & quit, we buttressed our M-E presence to counter other ‘threats’. This angered many who originated there and saw us meddling there as they saw us as akin to the Russians in Afghanistan. These Afghan resistance fighters from the M-E saw backing the Taliban movement as a way to provide a safe haven for themselves. When their real goals were accomplished with the ascent of Al Quaeda, we finally realized, too late, the long-term consequences of our actions.

For any not convinced, reflect on: Shah in Iran followed by us backing Saddam in Iraq vs Iran; Vietnam, etc. In addition to every glaring example there exist numerous smaller examples on nearly every continent. We’re not only slow to learn, but quick to forget lessons learned the hard way by previous generations. We also tend to dismiss many voices of experience in favor of the ’sound bite’ of today’s version of Yellow Journalism etc of the past. Old Indian Fellah can attest to the results of failure to distrust the loudest voices and biggest armies. What they proclaim as their goals seldom are. There’s ALWAYS the ‘implied’ results they expect.

As for the ones who do the training on armaments, quietly render aid, and generally assist the ‘favored’ cause of the current Administration or any previous one, the realities are often worse than the rumors. But under ALL Administrations prior to Dumbya, the folks doing the messy parts were almost all highly ethical, moral, fair, cautious, and pragmatic professionals who refused to do illegal, immoral, or unethical things or to even tolerate them. One of the saddest thing I’ve seen in my years on earth has been the exodus by early retirement, quitting(even after working almost enough time to retire), or plain agenda driven (personal, financial, power-grabbing, or even political) dismissal of those with the guts to refuse to the bidding of the corrupt (morally, ethically, legally, etc) ones in power.

Old Injun go back to watching Tour de France on machine that grabs pictures from the air:)

Thanks for stopping by.