The Today show featured an interview with New York Times reporter David Rohde, who, with two other colleagues, was kidnapped seven months ago by the Taliban and was just recently liberated. Rohde has published a 5-part article in the Times recounting his months of incarceration. At the start of the interview, Rohde attempted to get right down to business. He spoke of western misconceptions regarding Afghanistan in general and the Taliban in particular. Unceremoniously, he was interrupted by Ann Curry so that she could ask inane questions such as, "Did you miss your family?" and, "Were you afraid you were going to die?" As usual, a news program zeroed in on the fatuous and insipid rather than make use of information that would benefit its viewers. Not only did Rohde have such information, he was just bursting to share it but, of course, was not allowed to.
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, despite being of several years duration, have not brought us any closer to understanding the people of either country. We are not alone in this, of course. Neither the British nor the Russians, both of whom suffered stunning defeats while attempting to vanquish Afghanistan, did any better than we. Why did we not learn from their mistakes? The simple fact of the matter is that no one ever wins in Afghanistan. In an article reprinted in the November issue of Harper's, Andrew J. Bacevich writes, "Not for nothing has (Afghanistan) acquired the nickname Graveyard of Empires." He goes on to say that, as Americans, we tend to learn everything the hard way, due to an egocentric notion that only we are capable of putting the world to rights. So far, not a good attitude to hold, yet still we persist.
Could it be that a new posture toward Afghanistan might help bring about the changes we desire? President Obama has been receiving flak in recent weeks as he tries to make sense of the muddle we have created in Afghanistan before deciding on the next course of action. He has been accused of being wishy-washy and indecisive, among other things. But, perhaps he is on to something. What's wrong with trying something else, when what you've been doing has only made the situation worse? Invasion, violence and repression have never worked in Afghanistan (or anywhere else, for that matter), so let's try a new tact. As the song goes, what's wrong with peace, love and understanding?
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, despite being of several years duration, have not brought us any closer to understanding the people of either country. We are not alone in this, of course. Neither the British nor the Russians, both of whom suffered stunning defeats while attempting to vanquish Afghanistan, did any better than we. Why did we not learn from their mistakes? The simple fact of the matter is that no one ever wins in Afghanistan. In an article reprinted in the November issue of Harper's, Andrew J. Bacevich writes, "Not for nothing has (Afghanistan) acquired the nickname Graveyard of Empires." He goes on to say that, as Americans, we tend to learn everything the hard way, due to an egocentric notion that only we are capable of putting the world to rights. So far, not a good attitude to hold, yet still we persist.
Could it be that a new posture toward Afghanistan might help bring about the changes we desire? President Obama has been receiving flak in recent weeks as he tries to make sense of the muddle we have created in Afghanistan before deciding on the next course of action. He has been accused of being wishy-washy and indecisive, among other things. But, perhaps he is on to something. What's wrong with trying something else, when what you've been doing has only made the situation worse? Invasion, violence and repression have never worked in Afghanistan (or anywhere else, for that matter), so let's try a new tact. As the song goes, what's wrong with peace, love and understanding?
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