Interesting times...

Ever get that feeling that you are listening in interesting times? It's a Chinese curse, I'm sure you've heard of it. No one who ever lives to see such times feels particularly privileged, except in the knowledge that they will be able to tell people about it someday. What makes them such a headache is that you have to witness human beings doing stupid things. That's almost always what defines it. Oh, and I hate constantly hearing about things going on south of the border while nothing appears to be happening here other than complaints of how our economy is suffering thanks to the US. After years of suffering from Bush's idiotic leadership, there's finally a stable, intelligent man in charge there. You'd think that things would improve, but the morons running Wall Street, who got us all into this mess through their dick-brained antics, run scared every time Obama does something half-way intelligent (firing the crooked CEO of GM for one). And there's an entire media industry dedicated to running the sour grapes play (that's where they try like hell to ruin him because he beat the man they're lapdogs to in the last election).
And now there's constant news of how Afghanistan is not yet over. I saw a broadcast just now saying how the country is fighting a bill that is threatening to be past which will legalize rape in marriage. Our politicians talk exactly like US politicians do about Iraq, looking and sounding like people who've checked their brains at the door for political expediency. Why can't anyone say the obvious? The so called "war on terror" which should have started and ended in Afghanistan was abandoned by its major player, and now the fight has lost all meaning. Defending the rights of women and civilians from the Taliban is a noble goal, but there's little difference between that and the "building democracy" line that was used to keep US involvement in Iraq going. Canada's and the Coalitions ongoing involvement in Afghanistan is a war against is dominant ethnic group, the Pashtuns, not a fight against terrorism or oppression or other abstract phenomena. That's what it comes down to, in real and practical terms, and that's not a winning fight. The Pashtuns constitue the majority of the population, the entire eastern portion of the country, the better part of western Pakistan. The whole reason western Pakistan is becoming such a hot spot, an open area of recruitment for the Taliban, a haven for Al-Qaeda and exiled Taliban leaders, and the spot where the US is launching Predator strikes, is for this very reason.
In short, the war on terror is over. Clinton said as much when she declared that they were dropping the phrase from their admin's lexicon. We in Canada need to wake up and acknowledge that the opporunity to do anything productive began slipping away years ago and is now all but gone. The women of Afghanistan will suffer for sure, but so will many others and it's a little late to be using that as a reason for not leaving. The fact is, had people cared about the plight of Afghanistant's people a few decades ago, the Taliban would never have come to power. Hell, the Soviet invasion would have been averted had people over here not decided to use these people to further their own strategic interests. It's a long and sad tale, well documented for sure, how Afghanistan suffered from US and Soviet power games, how Pakistant's own tampering led to the Taliban, and the US invasion-turned-withdrawal from the country has led to a resurgent crisis there. Afghanistan's problems, like those in Iraq - which are also due to the bungling of those who invaded it - will take decades to resolve themselves. But those problems are beyond our means to solve them. To assume we can correct for Afghanistan's long history, its impenatrable system of tribal loyalties, its long cycle of violence and suffering, and its broken economy by sending more troops or keeping them there longer, is arrogant to say the least. More US troops, as Obama has promised, won't help. Keeping Canada there until 2011 won't help either.
As my grandpa used to say, the best way to screw things up is to get people involved. Sometimes, the best thing you can do is to step back and let things resolve themselves. And in the case of screwed up nations, especially the ones you helped screw up, sometimes the best thing to do is get out and let the people sort things out for themselves. It's the greatest injustice in the world that those who've already suffered so much will have to suffer more before things get any better. But unfortunately, that's life, and its a constant reality in Afghanistan. No one knows that better than them.