Absolutely fantastic piece of writing. In a few sentences, you sum up Afghanistan's history, its present and, unfortunately, its future as well. No matter how hard you try, no matter how much you want it, no matter how much you spend or how many men bleed, that bush won't just change into a tree. You hit the nail on the head.

Maybe instead of trying to tackle the entire country at once we should be intensively focusing on small areas. Build a part of Afghanistan up into something that the people recognize as their own and of which they can be proud. We need to find good local leaders we can work with in Afghanistan and create a synergy that restores hope... even if it's one small village at a time with running water, sewage systems, electricity, roads, even Mosques. We need to learn and understand what their best and brightest want for a future and help them exceed their expectations.

Thanks for another great article,

Mark

Michael,

Your words ring true on Afghanistan. I applaud your knowledge and your perseverance.

But.

The Arctic Sea Ice is back to its normal coverage. I guess they forgot to tell you. And the Antarctic Sea Ice is also normal. I guess they skipped over that too. And the British Isles had the worst snow storm in years.

The banks are melting. But they forgot to tell you itƒ??s because of years of misguided (stupid) social policy by the Democrats. And Republicans that could not/would not stop it even though they knew it was happening. Itƒ??s really too bad that the people that caused the financial melt down are now in total control. (If you donƒ??t believe me, send me an email and I will return information it. You will not get it from the NY times, of course.)

Love your work on Afghanistan.

Regards,

Steamboat Jack

In the words of my fellow marine, Robert Kiyosaki, "don't try to teach pigs to sing, it's a waste of your time and it irritates the pig".

Wow. How defeatist. If we aren't even going to try we should just leave now and give the country back to Al-quaeda and theTaliban. You are sounding just like the liberals who said we would never win in Iraq. They said things such as their cultural is different a democracy won't work, they need dictators to control them and they are animals who don't even care about their own children.

Now you are doing the same. People have the same dreams everywhere as you have pointed out in your numerous articles on Iraq. How come the sudden change of tune?

I'm just wondering whose dream is failing. I hope not yours.

Our dreams for the Afghan people must be for them to live and love and dream as Afghans. If you say that they are bushes and we are trees, it sounds like you think we are better than them. If our trees have bled and died, so too have their bushes...

Sometimes the trees must cast a shade over the bushes so that they may prosper by blocking the light that allows the choking vines to grow. The Taliban are like the Kudzu that threatens to take over the natural and beautiful flora of our American south, but we have found ways to kill it, and eradicate it... wherever we have allowed our hope to create the will.

It takes trees and bushes and lots of different elements to make a healthy and happy planet, but they all have their inherent beauty. If we all wish to prosper we must have hope for one another. Afghans must hope that Americans will receive them on the world stage, while we must hope that Afghans will get there.

Victory can not be had without hope, nor freedom maintained without will.

Keep writing Michael, but give your readers hope... we are all too ready to give up on what seems impossible, but we should remember that all great achievements, like the image of the earth rise over the moon, seemed impossible for much of the distance traveled.

We will not make make Afghanistan's bushes into trees, but may water their soil and love their children and grow a generation that will grateful that their young girls are free, and that their young men don't have to die in order to live.

The land needs to be suitable to grow trees...not to mention the tree needs to want to grow.

We in the US have bigger problems at home to solve than trying to bring Democracy to those that do not understand it nor wish it. Let the Afghan's tribes fight it out amongst themselves and whenever alQaeda or Taliban groups grow to be a problem, send in the daisycutters. I agree with Michael. Lives of our treasured military should not be wasted in Afghanistan.

I enjoy your writing and greatly enjoyed your book. I am 40 years old and headed to boot camp in a month. I have many reasons for joining the least of which is being from New York and losing many friends. It is something i always wanted to do and I have the time and am ready for It. In your book and website you constantly mention soldiers that have done 3,4, or even 5 tours between Iraq and Afghanistan. No family or person should have that burden.We need a national draft system where people would do a year of service In either the Army, Guard or Marines or any service. Countries that have this share the burden and young men and women learn responsibility that will guide the rest of their lives. Maybe you can take that up with Obama. As for Afghanistan I was worried that things were worse but this article is quite shocking. You always call It straight and I strongly respect your writing. I think it is embarrassing that we have not even captued or killed Hekmatyar.Mullah Omar is still loose as well as Bin Laden and Zawahiri. I think we should work with Pakistan to Isolate AQ from the Taliban and come to some agreement withthe Taliban that eliminates AQ. There seemed to be a significant rift between the two and we may exploit this to achieve a common goal. We want AQ dead and the Taliban want to return. Pakistan is the key, It just will take the right kind of diplomacy and secrecy to pull It off. If Pakistan can keep the Taliban under control and keep out AQ and others It might be plausible. maybe just a pipe dream. I agree with you that NATO Is useless. We should strongly start letting Old Europe save the British go It alone. I hope they enjoy the cold winters ahead when Russia turns off their gas and oil for good. The Soviet Bear Is awake again and once Oil skyrockets again they will go back to reclaiming what they think is theirs. Putin is an evil man and Is not to be trusted. Europe cowered when Putin crushed Georgia and threatened Ukraine with invasion if They joined NATO. They would be wise not to join NATO because they would not be helped by cheese eating cowards. Unless the US and Britain stepped in and then you have WWIII. Maybe Putin Is the Antichrist?
Stay safe and maybe I will see you over there.

See The Man Who Would Be King with Sean Connery and Michael Caine.

Read about the two failed British and one spectacularly failed Russian/Soviet attempts to control Afghanistan.

Look at the so-called Tribal areas of Pakistan.

Our problem, as Europeans, has been that we want to establish a Western style order in that country. Against the facts of History and Afghan Culture. Against the curious mix of Islam and Animism that these people have suffered through for several thousand years.

If we want them to peacefully coexist with their neighbors, we need to either kill them all or go in with shock and awe and spead the clans, relocate EVERY family, scattering their children so the cannot attack anyone without killing a relative.

And we need to disarm a people who could practically build any weapon from scratch after stealing a firing pin or a slide spring.

It's not "impractical". Given our reluctance and the intransigence of our allies, it's impossible. Let's just nuke 'em all (and Iran) and tell them not to mess with us or we'll come back REALLY ticked off...

Even conservatives question 'nation building', though. Or we used to.

It is not defeatist to decide on the proper course of action, for the interests of the United States. As I recall. the military objective was to smash the terror cell behind the 9/11 attack. That also called for wresting the Taliban from its de facto national rule. We decided it best to put the country's government back in to "democratic" hands. So far so good.

But to now morph this mission in to an economic development plan (that will no doubt take decades and cost us billions) is questionable to me. Is the argument or assumption that we have to lift up Afghanistan's standard of living to a certain level, and only that will keep Al-quaeda and the Taliban at bay?

It can be argued that the 9/11 hijackers came from much more affluent places (not Afghanistan). The root cause of their evils was not economic, but of hatred.

Where do we draw the line on "hearts and minds", and bribery or paying a protection racket? I say we remain in Afghanistan to safeguard their democratically elected government, and conduct COIN operations against remaining terrorist elements. But let's not stayso that they have Best Buys and Internet Cafes on every corner.

Mike. I have never heard you with such a down tone. I think democracy in Afghanistan is tough but what about smashing or keeping the Taliban smashed?

As far as using "gold" for "the ice is melting" are you serious? I can't believe you buy Al Gore's global warming theory. Do you know we are having record cold temps? How about that Al Gore first called his theory GLOBAL WARMING and now he calls it CLIMATE CHANGE. WHY THE CHANGE? Our government spends billions on this myth when it can be used on our troops or job growth stimulators. I recommend the book called Red Hot Lies. It is a Dennis Prager book recommendation ...

Please pull out of this tone. Letƒ??s get the high spirited YON back.

Unfortunately so many commenters are stuck in partisan mode. It's the Democrats' fault, it's the Republicans' fault. Wake up, people. There are big problems to try to solve, and as long as you're pointing partisan fingers, you're part of the problem. Jim Karthaus, keep your head down, and stay safe.

William Scott, you seem to be falling into exactly the error that Yon is criticizing here. The problem lies precisely in the assumption that what the Afghans yearn for is a system that looks a lot like Western democracies, and that they could have it if only we poured more blood and treasure into the situation. At this point, that hypothesis has been more or less empirically refuted.

The thorny Bush that aspired to be a might tree has been consigned to the ash heap of history. A new arborist is now at work, restoring the ravaged forest.

Yon: your opinions often puzzle me, but your comment is the strangest, if not most trivial.

The original problem of Afghanistan is it is a spoiler of empires. This was recently demonstrated in 9/11. "Afghanistan" is its disastrous people, who for some reason the adults of the present public cannot bring themselves to describe accurately and frankly, as if there were some virtue in avoiding or obscuring what is obvious. But that only brings us back to the beginning again: Afghanistan is a spoiler of empires - international order - because its people are - whatever select noble traits they have - barbarous.

Well, great. Tell us something we didn't know. Meanwhile, if we withdraw, Afghanistan will be worse, not better, and pose a greater threat, not a lesser, to everyone. We will be back.

I'll tell you the answer to this supposed puzzle. Set up a puppet government that can spread patronage and infrastructural improvements to a reasonable radius from Kabul, Herat, Kandahar, and Jalalabad, and kill the leaders of the groups that threaten this modicum of imperial stability. That's it. When some f*cking journalist/intelligence officer opens his mouth about it, don't provide some ludicrous answer, say: "Yes, and if we didn't kill them, they would kill each other, and we are much better at figuring out who should be killed - the Afghans certainly don't know any better, as is proven by time immemorial pedarastic barbarism. Thank you and shut up."

I agree with Matthew M. The area must want to grow and prosper. The Afghans will continue to do what allows them to feel safe and provide for their families and their tribe. It doesn't matter who comes in to try and clean the place up (except the Russians or Chinese).

I have been addicted to this blog since Michael published "Gates of Fire". I was looking for reviews of Steven Pressfield's book of the same title. Shortly after finishing Mr. Pressfield's book I picked up "The Great Game" by Peter Hopkirk. I filled each book with notes and analysis and my thoughts at the time. I leave for Afghanistan in three weeks for my deployment to assist in the Great Game. I didn't volunteer to be an augmenter for this deployment away from my family because I thought the fight was "winnable" but because it needs to be done. My brothers/sisters in arms are over there tonight and I want to go forward and help them out. I just might help a few Afghans along the way. Rory Stewart (The Places in Between) has yet to leave Kabul because of his hope for change.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1823753,00.html - How to Save Afghanistan.

Hang in there Mike.

All that is needed for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. - Edmund Burke

I believe we can win in Afghanistan...providing our goals are realistic. Although the present group of amateurs in the White House are clueless and would never implement it, here's how:

http://joshuapundit.blogspot.com/2008/08/winning-in-afghanistan.html

If by dream you mean the Bush dream that democracy would be established in Afghanistan ( and Iraq) and then like a prairie fire spread throughout the Middle East all because humans have an innate yearning for democracy, no way. Anyone who has even a superficial understanding of the Arab World, and the limitations of US power to transform other nations, understood this was a dream bound to fail.

On the other hand, the Obama administration is currently looking at what should be our goals in Afghanistan. And the leaks point to a downsizing of goals: forget democracy and all the feel good crap, the Obama team will settle for Afghanistan not again becoming a launch pad to attack America.

So it seems that a so-called liberal regime is not interested in nation building, which a conservative administration was. Interesting twist that should have the ditto heads scratching their heads.

Our military men and women swear to uphold the US Constitution and protect our country, not to spread democracy throughout the world and build schools for little kiddies in the Middle East.

A very strange thing happened in this country, very strange. Weƒ??re now full of bleeding-heart conservatives! I thought conservatives were opposed to nation building. Didn't Bush say that's something Liberals do?

If these bleeding-heart conservatives want to save the world, then they should go work for the United Nations, since saving the world is their mandate -- not Americaƒ??s!

The problem is, the Afghans want peace, wealth, and freedom for themselves, but they want war, poverty, and enslavement for their fellow Afghans. They will keep killing anyone that they can until they recieve both of these things at once, and the fact that it's impossible is just the excuse they need to keep terrorizing the world forever.

The US isn't really trying to remake Afghanistan into a modern democracy with ubiquitous internet, competing gallerias and world class universities. The US is trying to kill al-Queda. The Taliban is protecting al-Queda and is in the way. So the Taliban has to go. All we really need is a meaner, tougher Pashtun warlord to push aside the Taliban, help us kill al-Queda, and the US can leave.

Yeah, Mike, that place can definitely get ya down, sometimes. I found myself referring to it as the place of "Uggeries" - Thuggery, Skullduggery, and Boy-buggery. Your poem's beauty is in it's sad truth. Hang in there, pal.

What happened to the adage, "Teach a man to fish and feed the masses?" I agree with the green zone establishment, then build out from there and then start some large irrigated farms to grow crops that are indiginous to that area and maybe introduce soy beans, corn, wheat, whatever can grow over there. Teach them to farm. Start with a large land owner, or war lord, if need be, hire the locals to work the farms and increase their standard of living.

If they can earn an income and stay away from the poppy fields, then maybe you can teach them to be farmers. Fill the area with tractors, plows, discs, harrows and combines teach them how to grow their food.

Wipe out the Taliban and Al Qaeda and teach the country how to export legal products. Will sugar cane grow there and be turned into sugar and ethanol? Let's start thinking outside the box, instead of war, war, war. What other natural resources have we looked for there, diamonds, gold, silver, coal, oil, natural gas, potash, uranium, bauxite, etc, etc. Hell, they may be setting on natural resources that could bring them riches beyond their wildest dreams. Has anyone in the coalition, or NATO researched this line of thought? Maybe it's time someone did! If none of these resources are available there and the soil can not grow anything, but poppies, then the place may be truly destined to stay in the dark ages.

We may have to lower our expectations, but we don't have to leave the country in absolute poverty either. Keep up the good work Michael and keep telling it the way you see it!

After several years of reading dispaches and your book I sense a great tiredness in you. I suspect some ugly realizations are no longer being supressed by a vision of victory. Possibly this, there can be no victory because the enemy has no corpus. Unlike facism, communism, dictatorships and other types of cults there is no dependence on a man or group of men. This is a battle against a philosophy that hates us. All we can ever do is try to hold it at arms length. Like pimples on a teenage face, we can only treat (fight) what pops up.
Europe is doomed to either a war (ethnic cleansing a la the 14 and 15 hundreds) or the hegemony of a brutal religious philosophy. Personally I think Europe faces the latter. Europe killed off the Jews and thought they were now the blessed in the light only to find after 50 years that europeans will be the new objects of oppression and genocide. We can face a similar long term fate. So many of the people I know cannot conceive that I speak a simple truth. I have read the lines of the enemys battle plan - they take no prisioners as they have only victory before them. They have been at war for over 1300 years and if it takes twice that into the future it makes no difference.

We can not win in the classic sense but we must suppress those elements who would thrust terror and fear into our society. If persistant we can project a softness into their resolve that wil allow two different worlds to exist on one earth.

Hey libs... how about adding something useful to the debate besides "bush lied, people died" or "people are dumb for being like steamboat jack"

Michael,
Hang in there. Afghanistan will be different, and tougher in a way, than Iraq. Russia is offering to help - a sop as they bring Kyrgyzstan back into their clutches with $ (this after they promised use of Manas as long as needed).

Obama needs to use his hope and change charm on our NATO allies and re-invigorate them to help (article 5 not withstanding). A stable Afghanistan will keep Pakistan more stable and keep the Iranians in check.

Keep the faith. Keep praying. We can do this.

The article has compromised truth with poetic sentences. The writer is a mere pesimistic indidual who has read Afghanistan's ancient history, not the modern one.

Numereous surveys suggest that the majority of Afghans support NATO presence in thier country. This is a major turningpoint in this country's history as they historically opposed foreignors in their land. As a small nation, they have now learnt that should NATO leave, they will be swallowed and torn apart by greedy neigbours.. and that is the secret behind NATO's success - the support by the majority of the population.

Should the US and NATO leave this country at the mercy of its neigburs again, as they did after the cold war, the cost of neglegence could be much higher than the 9/11 tragedies.

RSS,
The Saudi's are the root of evil, They play a doublegame very effectively and No US President will do anything while we are addicted to oil and In a depression. They sponsor all the madrases In Pakistan turning out Aq and Taliban faster than we can kill them. We should have fed them to Saddam. 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi's and on September 12 The only civilian plane flying was carrying Saudi's out of this country. Guess who they were carrying? Being from New York and knowing many firemen that died that day. I think the country deserves an answer. I would like to know!

I have been a reader and financial supporter of Michael for a year now, and always look forward to receiving the latest e-mail notifying me of the posting of another of his articles.

It is time for me to start putting in my 2 cents worth, because it looks like I'll be having a dog in this fight. My son, after being laid off from his second engineering job in the auto industry, decided to cast his fate with the USMC for the ensuing 5 years. After struggling through Parris Island as a 30 year old private, he upped the ante and applied for OCS. He was accepted and went through basic a second time - as an officer candidate. He next completed The Basic School and is now in training with a Recon Unit. So it is easy to imagine that he will be doing his thing in Afghanistan in the not too distant future. His mother thinks he is crazy. As his father, I am proud as hell of him. May God watch over him.

My thoughts on the present situation is a little more positive than Michael's latest posting - but hey - doesn't everyone have a "down" day every now and then. But do we really have any choice? This international Islamist Extremist Movement isn't going to go away on its' own, and the US is the only nation strong enough to try to turn the situation around. We are going to be fighting the extremists for a long time to come, so it makes sense to me to try to attract their meanest "bad-asses" to a spot of OUR choosing and try to kill or capture as many of them as we can.

For this plan to work in Afghanistan, we will be obliged to improve the security situation for the average (non-extremist) Afghani to the point that they, of their own volition, decide to fight with us instead of against us. Right now the best option (as mentioned in previous postings in this Blog) appears to be the establishment of 2 or 3 "green zones" and slowly move out from there. That, and getting as much cooperation from Pakistan as we can in making live miserable for the AQs and Taliban hiding out NW territories.

This Plan of Action also has an additional benefit not mentioned previously - and that is having a real, live laboratory for our armed forces to practice and improve their COIN ops on a continuous basis. After reading every USMC history book extant, I have come to the conclusion that the Marines' fitness and preparation levels deteriorate rapidly during times of "peace". To me, the biggest problem we will face is getting a majority of the populace, and the present administration, to muster up enough fortitude to keep on keeping on in this 1300 year war. I'm not real confident in that regard.

Michael, keep up the fantastic work. I always look forward to reading all of it - whether I agree or not.

I would also like to comment on the bloggers on this site. I read 25 to 30 different Blogs weekly, and without a doubt the intelligence, variety, insight, and (in most cases) civility exhibited on the MY Blog far exceeds most of the others.

A good day to all, STEVE