A Worth-While Spinoff

What Are We Doing Here, Again?

What on earth is Nato, the US, and minnows like Australia and New Zealand doing in Afghanistan? With the death--nay, execution--of Bin Laden maybe the question will now be faced honestly.

In George Orwell's 1884, the state is engaged in perpetual war--a war without purpose or meaning. Afghanistan is now the United States's longest war and is shaping up like Orwell's vision. We have documented over the years the stupidly inane "mission creep" from executing Bin Laden and bloodying the nose of the complicit Taliban to "nation building". This latter inanity is the liberal war of choice. It is a way where humanitarianism is the ultimate ethic and highest value. It makes the war feel good to naive idealists.

We know that a majority of American voters now oppose Obama's war in Afghanistan. We know that the war is not winnable in any military sense. We know that the Karzai regime is hopelessly corrupt. We know that centuries old tribalism is the most powerful driver of Afghani politics. We know that "nation building" is a self-congratulatory, fatuous farce. So, when will military, political, and common-sense reality hit home to Obama, the governing elites, NATO and everyone else supportive of this useless national self-indulgence?

Charles Krauthamer is a cheer-leader for the cause of American global military supremacy. He is a "making the world safe for democracy" kind of chap. He is reported to have reflected thusly on the execution of Bin Laden:

In the aftermath of the killing of Osama bin Laden, I found myself agreeing with Charles Krauthammer that this was a global game-changer for American greatness. It was a gutsy and courageous decision by President Obama, brilliantly executed by the Navy SEALs and all the intelligence and support behind them.

As Krauthammer put it, after the tough slogs in Iraq and Afghanistan, this amounts to the restoration of unquestioned U.S. military dominance. America has not slipped, nor has our military reach and power.

Puleeez. The author of this particular piece is Larry Kudlow--a self-professed "hawk" and "American exceptionalism" drum major. But now Kudlow is asking the question--the right question. Why is the US continuing in Afghanistan? What are we doing here, again?

Thus far, nearly 1,600 U.S. troops have been killed in action in Afghanistan. To me this is the most tragic part. Of course, I wholeheartedly support our troops. But is this blood really necessary? Are the projected future costs really necessary?

Again, I ask myself: All this to support Karzai? Isn’t this the sort of nation-building that the late William F. Buckley Jr. opposed? Are American national-security interests really tied up in Afghanistan? Is now not the time to contemplate a much more rapid troop withdrawal from Afghanistan?

He concludes with the following:

Going forward, what exactly is our real mission in Afghanistan? That’s the basis of my concern. Are we as Americans and conservatives really convinced that the continued mission is worth the lost blood and treasure? Is now not the time to leave?

What exactly are we doing in Afghanistan? And how do we get out of it?

When the Amerolotrous right wing start to ask such questions it is a good day.  Now if we can only get Sarah Palin to stop being a chippy cheerleader for this inane war we will be seeing real progress.  We have the hunch that if a Republican candidate for president were to make the case for immediate withdrawal strongly and rationally it would likely make him or her a clear front runner, and an almost certain shoe-in to the Oval Office in 2012. 

If withdrawal from Afghanistan were the only tangible outcome of the execution of Bin Laden that alone would be a great boon.