Afghanistan: US ignores ground realities
The NATO commander in Afghanistan Gen. David Petraeus admitted in recent statement that the Taleban forces were still holding out in some areas in the county and that 11 of the NATO soldiers killed in explosions in various locations over the last few days were Americans.
This is the diplomatic style of saying that the US did not make any head way in Afghanistan.
While 18 US soldiers were killed in just one week, the total number of US casualties in August was 53.
A NATO statement recently said seven US soldiers and three US civilians were killed when a helicopter crashed in western Afghanistan. In another incident two helicopters collided in the south killing four American soldiers. The Taleban claimed that it shot down all the three US helicopters.
Afghan authorities disclosed about this time the survival of a governor in the eastern part of the country in an attack by Taleban men.
Taleban also attacked a military base in a tribal region of Bajore killing four Pakistani soldiers.
These are official figures that prove the failure of the NATO in bringing Afghanistan under its control. The failure of the American forces in Afghanistan is becoming more and more evident. George W. Bush and his administration controlled by a bunch of ultra rightists, who are bent on destroying Islam, are responsible for the apparent failure.
When the short-sighted US authorities decided to invade Afghanistan with the aim of eliminating the Al-Qaeda they were under the impression that it would be a cakewalk for them. The ramshackle Afghan soldiers would not be a match to the indomitable NATO forces, the US believed without making any study of the ground situation including the special features of the Afghan population. It was also a mistake on the part of the US not to make any pragmatic plan for the postwar period.
The Afghan people have never been subjugated by any colonial powers even when the whole Indian Subcontinent came under the British Empire. British imperialists could only control the strategic land of Afghanistan only for a short period.
About 71 percent of the British public favored a phased pull out of the British forces from Afghanistan when the newspaper Independent made an opinion poll. The British public were shocked by the findings of the Oxfam about the number of British soldiers who died in Afghanistan.
It is true that US President Barack Obama has said the scale down of the US forces in Afghanistan will begin in July 2011 as scheduled. Obama also indicated that the pace of the withdrawal would be determined by the ground situation in Afghanistan.
The president promised that the US was committed to the future of Afghanistan that has been battered by the war.
As we know, the US president is generous with promises that he would or could seldom implement. One thing is sure: Whether Obama will do anything for the reconstruction of Afghanistan or not, the Afghan people will never stop fighting the NATO forces.
One wonders when the White House will realize ground realities and when will it learn from the history in all its dimensions. The military machine of the West has broken Afghanistan’s economic infrastructure. But the West can never destroy the will power of the Afghan people.
However the US objective of destroying Afghanistan, a Muslim country, has, no doubt, succeeded. The turn of other Muslim countries will come next one after the other.
Comments
CAUTIOUS
Sep 10, 2010 04:54
Report abuseMaybe you should have led with this statement at the beginning of the article and provided some facts to back it up rather than using it as a offensive and rather stupid ending.
NATE
Sep 10, 2010 16:29
Report abuseSKI
Sep 20, 2010 18:24
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