June 27, 2010

The United States is relying on the Afghans to step up and take responsibility for their country in the form of an effective military and civilian government. The U.S. wants to help with the process and is pouring lives and billions of dollars into a strategy to help them improve their society. Unfortunately this is impossible. These are the problems:

Tribal governance trumps a central Afghan government. It is impossible to make deals with the dozens of tribes in the country and then have them work together.

The U.S. is an outsider and will always be that. Consequently the “trust” we build there will be superficial and based on monetary gain for them.

Corruption at all levels will deplete U.S. resources and stymie our effectiveness.

The Taliban will never give up. They don't have to because we are outsiders and they have more in common with Afghanistan and Pakistan citizens than we will ever have.

The drug trade is the cornerstone of the Afghan economy and all power structures in Afghanistan will work to protect it, even by turning on American soldiers.

The Untied States has no effective strategy to deal with these problems. It didn't have one at the beginning of the surge and it doesn't have one now. American deaths have increased significantly and for what?

The United States must leave Afghanistan for the sake of our soldier's lives.