Obama is Wrong on Afghanistan

Aryan tribes disappeared into the hills--leaving some language, but that too was absorbed. Alexander the Great swept through and his Hellenes were absorbed. The Hindus couldn't control it, and the Muslims couldn't unite the tribes and ethnicities. England did its best---or worst, which is much the same, and was shattered. And the once-mighty Soviet Union found its doom there--blood and treasure spent and misspent.

It does not matter that we mean well, that we do not aspire to empire. Our hearts may be pure and with no greater ambition than to liberalize the nation so that women might have decent lives. It might be to eradicate the poppy industry. And it would certainly be a good thing to stop Al Qaeda in its tracks. This is a conceivable goal. Eradicating or converting the Taliban--as much as it would make the world better--is not a realistic goal.

I do believe we mean well and do not want to own the place. And that is part of our problem. We, along with all those other failed empires, are short-timers. We will not stay a hundred years or even twenty. There is no reason for the Taliban to fight us in set-piece battles. They can out last us and pick off one-by-one the people who cooperate with us--whom they see as collaborators.