Let talk about Afghanistan

[the_future_modernes]

I like Al Jazeera English's youtube channel because they offer very good commentary on world issues. This is their take on the Afghanistan War:
Empire - Obama and Afghanistan - 29 Apr 09 - Part 1

Empire examines the path from Iraq to Afghanistan and into Pakistan. With the Iraq operation apparently drawing to a close and a mini-surge underway in Afghanistan, people in the region are wondering what this will all mean on the ground and what will the repercussions be for the region. As locals worry that they will be caught in the crossfire or killed by drones, experts question whether the strategy is the correct one or if it is too little, too late. Empire investigates what went wrong and the plan to fix it.

Empire - Obama and Afghanistan - 29 Apr 09 - Part 2

To make matters worse Juan Cole reports that

The NYT explains that Obama is readying a major US military push to cut the neo-Taliban off from their funding sources in the poppy trade.

The problem is that a) the Taliban are probably being bankrolled by Gulf millionaires to some extent, and so ending the poppy trade will not put them down. Second, a lot of ordinary Afghan farmers depend on poppies and the new policy could push many of them into insurgency.

I had the lingering impression that Afghanistan was the just war, after all the Taliban supported and shielded Osama and it was understandable that we go in to deal with him. Or at least, that's what the American news kept telling me. But the videos reveal the complications that were ridiculously simplified, in complete disregard of the recent history of Afghanistan (hello Soviet invasion!!!) and to make matters worse, the fact that we keep such close record of US military deaths, while completely ignoring Afghan deaths, (seriously? 711 people killed by the drones, with a 94% innocence rate???? WTF??? And No one will anticipate that this shit leads to radicalization and insurgency? Really?). And questions about American empire, race and our budget being strained by wars we cannot afford while healthcare and education to name a few are a complete shambles, to the comparison to Vietnam and the clusterfuck that was keep bubbling up as well. Quite frankly videos like these are moving me firmly and inexorably to an anti-all-wars position. What are your thoughts about Afghanistan? Your reactions to the video?

Comments

[blair]

I watched these videos a couple days ago, and wow I'm out of breath. Based on what CNN was giving me I never imagined these complications, and because of the information I've been taking in I dont even think I can fully process the scope of what I watched. The good thing about this is that I know I'm among others who are starting to realize not only our failures but the multitude of reasons action was necessary in this conflict. Now should it have been called the "War On Terror?" Not at all but this is obviously a frying pan of activity. What more information leads to is a better system of checks and balances on action taken, however. I heard a joke on the Colber(t) Repor(t) this morning about altered perceptions of the middle east and maybe that's a sign we're marching in the right direction.