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July 18, 2006
It is around five years since President George W. Bush declared victory in Afghanistan and said that the terrorists were smashed. Since 2001, a smorgasbord of international military and development forces has been increasing in size. How is it, then, that Afghanistan is near collapse once again?
Garland
I presume the short answer is Iraq. It has provided an opportunity for a revived Taliban movement to make a third of the country ungovernable. Together with al-Qaeda, Taliban leaders are carving out new bases on the Afghanistan–Pakistan border.
Hell is truth seen too late, as Hobbes said.
Update: 19 July
The US neo-cons gathered around National Review have become quite warlike. They want a third front in the war on terror opened up immediately. Michael Rubin over at National Review Online (NRO) is calling for the eradication of Hezbollah and Hamas, and after their paymasters pay a terrible cost for their support. He adds that:
There will never be peace if Syria and Iran are allowed to use Lebanon as a proxy battlefield safe and secure in the knowledge that they will not pay directly. If the peace is the aim, it is imperative to punish the Syrian and Iranian leadership.
What does 'eradiction' mean when Hamas is part of the government? The US neocons have gone from advocating that the US's Middle East policy is about moderating democratically elected parties (like, say, Hamas) to, simply eradicating them.
Andrew McCarthy at National Review Online says:
Hezbollah is Iran. It is Iran’s wholly owned proxy warrior. It is fighting Israel. It is an enemy of the United States, because its master, Iran, is an enemy of the United States. This is our war. The same war we finally engaged five years ago. That, it is worth remembering, was the war on terror — World War IV, as Norman Podhoretz aptly dubbed it. Democracy promotion is a worthy long-term aim, but the immediate imperative of this war is to defeat America-hating jihadists.
Jonah Goldberg reckons its WW4 as well Michael Ledeen says that it's a choice between dishonor and war. It's time to go after the terrorist training camps in Syria and Iran. Chamberlain is put into the mix just to make sure you get the point.
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Gary,A Lebanese friend of mine who I socialise with, was nearly in tears when I spoke to him this morning about what was happening to his country.I couldn't think of anything to say to him,i guess fortunately for me, he knows my feelings on the subject on the strife in the Middle East and did not attempt to stab me through the heart.This subject has been covered adnauseum by the pundits but apart from the absolute rubbish by the wingnuttery there are going to be no winners here.,just a lot more dead people on both sides. The time is running out on this madness,and someone is going to pay.I pray it is not my family cause all bets are now off.Anyone who thinks to the contrary is a fuckhead.