Decision Time About Afghanistan

Barbara Tuchman the famous historian writes in her award winning book March of Folly: From Troy to Viet Nam

In the illusion of omnipotence, American policy-makers took it for granted that on a given aim, especially in Asia, American will could be made to prevail.  This assumption came from the can-do character of a self-created nation and from the sense of competence and superpower derived from World War II.  If this is "arrogance of power, " in Senator Fulbright's phrase, it was not much the fatal hubris and over-extension that defeated Athens and Napoleon, and in the 20th century Germany and Japan, as it was failure to understand that problems and conflicts exist among other peoples that are not soluble by the application of American force or American techniques or even American goodwill.  "Nation-building" was the most presumptuous of the illusions.  Settlers of the North American continent had built a nation from Plymouth Rock to Valley Forge to the fulfilled frontier, yet failed to learn from their success that elsewhere, too, only the inhabitants can make the process work.

Let's hope Afghanistan does not become the folly of this century. In Viet Nam we were supposedly "saving the world" from Indochinese takeover and communism which was a residual of McCarthyism, but in Afghanistan the reasons become opaque and our presence less defined. 

Eisenhower warned us of "The Industrial Military Complex." He was referring to the relationship during conflicts among governements, military and industry.  What we saw happen in Iraq is an example of these interests supporting the continuation of the war, rather than bringing it to a swift end.  Afghanistan is at risk for turning into the same machine of production and profit and the gains shrinking in comparison to the cost in lives lost.