Exit Strategy

That is the current cover for Tiime Magazine and it's causing quite a stir. While I don't necessarily support using women like this to sell magazines, the image tells a powerful story about our presence in Afghanistan and our exit strategy. The abridged story is here but you have to actually buy a copy to read the whole thing. Or sneak into your local Barnes & Noble and just sit down. Either way.

This is an excellent illustration of my larger issue with a simple withdrawal from either Iraq or Afghanistan since my conversion from blind Republicanism several years ago. Sure, upwards of 90% of the country can now agree that if we could go back in time and not elect George Bush/not invade Iraq and Afghanistan it would be a good thing. But we can't. We've been in Afghanistan for nine years now and Iraq for six. We've spent unimaginable resources and the lives of some 5,000 US service members not to mention a number of Iraqi and Afghan deaths that is almost impossible to calculate and the total hours and manpower spent discussing and debating the topic here in America. We ARE there. Sure, from our side of the fight it seems to be a great idea to get out while the getting's good. This is why President Obama ran on a platform of rapid and responsible withdrawal from both conflicts. The wars aren't popular at home. But have we taken a look at what withdrawal will mean to the countries we will be leaving our mess to? This is by no means an endorsement of continued fighting. What I'm saying is that the answer is far more nuanced that just a simple call to "bring them home" as we liberals are used to crying.

I believe (don't quote me) that we have been asked at least once by the Iraqi Provisional Government to go ahead and leave. If that's the wish of the Iraqi people I'll be the first to say we should comply. But I don't think we've had anything that specific out of Afghanistan. And that's where the woman pictured up top comes into play. There has been an increasing call/realization that any sort of meaningful withdrawal from Afghanistan will mean negotiations with the Taliban. In fact President Hamid Karzai has gone so far as to invite the Taliban to run for Parliament. This strikes me as frighteningly similar to the Hamas government that was legitimately elected in Gaza and Hezbollah's governmental aspirations in Lebanon. Legitimate, yes, good for the country as a whole though, probably not. The woman featured on the Time cover ran away from an abusive husband. When the husband found her at her family's house he went to the Taliban for a judgement. Her punishment was to have her nose and ears cut off with a knife. This was a little more than a year ago, eight years after the US entered Afghanistan. This is the sort of thing that may return in full force if the US leaves and the Taliban participates in and especially gains a majority in the Afghan government. 

Many are hopeful that Afghanistan's Constitution will provide some protection from these sorts of abuses as the US leaves. Currently it does provide for women's rights as well as a mandatory female representation in Parliament of at least 25%. I think these things are good for Afghanistan. But what do I know, I'm just an American with a vastly foreign view on a place I've never been.

I'm not proposing to have the answers in this post. What I am suggesting is that the situation is much more complicated than even the best reporting we've seen in the United States would suggest. I think that much of what we ought to do will depend on what the Afghans themselves say they want. But in basing our reactions on that we have to understand just WHO it is that is doing the asking and whether they represent the whole population or not.

Discuss?