Truth and the War on Terror in Afghanistan

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Karzai blames allies for problems

Anyone who has scrutinized the fiasco undertaken by the United States in Afghanistan ostensibly against the terrorists who perpetrated the 9/11/2001 attacks in New York City is well aware of the fact that the United States policy in Afghanistan has been a colossal failure and that the coalition operating in Afghanistan remains more figment of political arm twisting than reflection of any shared desire to disarm terrorists and the Taliban.

Perfect evidence of this comes in the above article. On the day George W Bush  officially leaves office, moments from Barack Obama’s swearing in as the new President of the United States of America, Hamid Karzai, the Afghani Prime Minister anointed by George W Bush, goes on the offensive and excoriates the United States and our allies for our failure to improve Afghanistan’s political situation. He further criticized the West’s ineptitude in tackling the sources of the problems: arms trade, infiltration from Pakistan, drugs trade.

Now that our so-called allies have the freedom to speak, Americans who have had their heads in the sand may finally hear of the horrors, the incompetence and the corruption that had been projected onto the world scene as the emblem of the U.S.A.  over the past eight years. Our reputation is so badly tarnished that it is hard to conceive of any speedy recovery, however much good will Obama may have on his side.

Then again, there will be those who will refuse to accept the reality no matter how many American alliances crumble, how many allies publicly denounce America’s aims and motives, and how many friends publicly renounce America’s mission. It all echoes of Primo Levi’s accounts of the wretched starving corpses who still managed to delude themselves that they still led some semblance of a life in Survival at Auschwitz (previously published as Is This a Man?). Perhaps if the horrors of Auschwitz cannot force people to relinquish their fantasies, then there is no hope for the deluded in the United States.

Obama’s hands will be full, indeed.

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