Trapped in the Afghan Maze

[Skybird]

Trapped in the Afghan Maze. The Irrationality of Western Policies in "Absurdistan" and the inglorious degeneration of NATO:

http://people.freenet.de/Skybird/Afghanistan.pdf

Hi,

This essay I have posted in late November at a non-public discussion panel I meanwhile was invited to join, and I have added only the text-boxed quotes to it since then, and two or three additional details concerning news that became actual meanwhile (the attack on Germany's role in Afghanistan, for example). I received extremely polarized feedback, which came as no surprise to me. People that were followers of Bush's policy rejected it completely, while critics of Bush supported it. Nationality of readers was - thank God - not what decided their reactions - and this was a very positive surprise for me.

I just had a quick peek while coming through this place, and I saw a sad shortage of long essays here on this board , so I decided to help you out on the fly. Think of it as a Christmas gift from an old friend. Hope you enjoy playing around with it and shredder it into pieces of firewood to keep you warm in these cold cold winter nights... 16°C over here, btw.

Chapter headlines:
Introduction
Recent History
Limited Options…
… And Secret Agendas
The Two Faces Of Afghanistan’s Drug History
Limits Of Military Engagement
Germany’s And NATO’s Increasingly Problematic Relation With America
No Equal Partners, But Obedient Vassals
Closing

Unscrupulousness, short-sightedness of past Afghanistan policies, secret agendas, drugs, betrayal, an immaturely started Iraq war, massive and repeated miscalculations both on political and military levels (reaching 30 years back into history), and NATO insanely allowing itself to embark prematurely on a badly thought-out mission that is totally out of area, have led the Afghanistan operation to a situational status that now only a blind man can consider any longer to be anything else than a mission impossible. […] Afghanistan is a harsh terrain for Western logic. Mohammedan faith and the fanaticism of religiously motivated Kamikaze-like fighters willing their own death, do not obey the mechanisms of Western reason. […] And while Afghanistan seems to move closer to falling back to a government of arch-conservative stone-age Mohammedans and rivalling drug barons, maybe even to a new round of murderous civil war, and Karzai’s overdressed and corrupt cabaret of selfish opportunists in Kabul proves to be paralysed by it’s own helplessness and impotence, the North Atlantic has grown in width considerably. Tailored statements of calculated optimism at press conferences trying to indicate the opposite can’t hide the growing alienation between major nations in Europe, and the US. If the Afghanistan war has made one thing clear, than it is this: that NATO has lost a major understanding of it’s identity as a regional defence alliance basing on shared cultural values and geostrategic and inter-economic interests – which in the long run may turn out to be a more lethal loss than the loss of military potency alone. […] And last, he quoted “ein besonderer Soldat” (“I assume he was referring to a KSK man, but of course he couldn’t officially confirm that), who ambiguously should have said: “Sie schlagen Zeit tot.” (“They are killing time.”) Maybe that is the most precise way to describe the sense and meaning in the battles currently and back then being fought. We do not so much kill enemies and improve the situation and achieve our goals - we just kill time instead. The enemy looses bodies. We loose time. Our losses are much more hurting in comparison. The war goes wrong. [...] By the end of 2006, the UN expects the Afghan share in worldwide opium production to be around 92%, with a gross export of opium in the range of exceeding a record 6.000 tons – more than ever before, and reaching those levels during the time of Western engagement and NATO troop presence in the country. Something goes totally wrong with the Western ambitions here.

That's all from me on this topic

I wish everybody a merry Christmas - and a happy debate :p

[Cpt. Stewker]

I don't like debating around the holidays, personally, so I have no extended say. But I will say I find the essay intrigueing, even though I may not agree with some of it.

[August]

I personally don't like a debate where the initiator drops the bomb and departs.

[Yahoshua]

Is skybird back?

[Safe-Keeper]

I am thoroughly relieved by your decision to not post the essay in its 28-page entirety here.

I'll read it when I get the chance. I'm currently busy with exam preparations, the summary I'm writing on the books I've so far read by Ingvar Ambjørnsen (the guy behind Elling), and homework catch-up. That, and I'm far from 100% healthy. I'm so looking forward to the holidays.

Grumble... Goddamned summary is currently six pages long and still two books short... Grumble, grumble... Gonna be the lenght of the 15-page monster of a project I have to turn in by Easter on Ambjørnsen... Grumble... What's the teacher going to say when I turn in a book summery the lenght of the project... Grumble... It'll be like baking a cake with more icing than actual cake... More grumbling... Growl.

Is skybird back?

No. He's sent his evil 'bot to terrorize us with epic 28-page essays on warfare, the sadist. Next he'll send virii.

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by August

I personally don't like a debate where the initiator drops the bomb and departs.

For certain reasons that have to do with some battles I currently need to fight in my real life, reduced free time due to that and additional new responesebilities I accepted, and things related to this board back then, I decided to "leave" here several weeks ago, in the meaning of not wanting to engage in the daily exchange of words any longer. I still write, and occasioanlly read here, but do less (almost none) daily routine small talk anymore in any kind of forum, and focus on just one writing project a time - but that one in depth. Please understand that I will therefore not engage in any discussion here. All my opinion on the status concerning Afghanistan, and reasons for that opinion, is expressed in that essay - beyond that I simply have nothing more to say on that issue.

So, Yahoshua - I am not back in the meaning of your words. I just hop in every couple of weeks or even months when I think I have something that some people here may be interested in. Think of it as sending a postcard.

Take care everybody,
Skybird

[Onkel Neal]

Originally Posted by Yahoshua

Is skybird back?

No, that's not the same Skybird. I sold the rights to his forum name on eBay, so that's a guy who wants the respect and cred and was willing to pay for it.

Ahoy new Skybird, your rhetoric is as good as evah.

Neal

[CCIP]

Originally Posted by Neal Stevens

No, that's not the same Skybird. I sold the rights to his forum name on eBay, so that's a guy who wants the respect and cred and was willing to pay for it.

Ahoy new Skybird, your rhetoric is as good as evah.

Neal

Why was I not told of this? Well, let me know if you plan to sell any other missing members. I'd buy Drebbel, would like to wear his hat

[Yahoshua]

Kay....


Ya know if Skybird ever went I'd expect him to go out somthing akin to this:

[The Avon Lady]

Hi Skybird.

A relevant read: Senator Santorum's farewell address.

[Fish]

Originally Posted by Skybird

Take care everybody,
Skybird

You too, and thanks for the essay.