What does the West owe Afghanistan?

Eric Margolis: The US and NATO must cease military operations and negotiate with Taliban. Part 4 of 4

Senior Editor Paul Jay kicks off the fourth and final segment of his interview with Eric Margolis with the question of how to properly negotiate with the Taliban in Afghanistan. Eric outlines his belief that the negotiations must be real, not just a tactic to divide the Taliban and other resistance forces and thereby prolong the occupation. Real negotiations would require a ceasefire on US and NATO military operations accompanied by an offer of negotiation invitations to all parties in the country. Eric gives a brief explanation of the history and demography of the country in reference to Afghanistan's traditional absence of central governance, and what he views as their wishes to continue with such an arrangement. For this reason Eric finds deep flaws in the efforts of the West to try and impose such centralized structures. Eric also lists the various activities being carried out by foreign occupiers in Afghanistan that he feels are ill-advised, from the bombing of villages to the decision to deal with the Karzai government.

Eric Margolis is a journalist born in New York City and holding degrees from Georgetown the University of Geneva, and New York University. During the Vietnam War he served as a US Army infantryman. Margolis is the author of War at the Top of the World –- The Struggle for Afghanistan and Asia is a syndicated columnist and broadcaster whose articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The International Herald Tribune, Mainichi Shimbun and US Naval Institute Proceedings. Margolis is an expert of military affairs, a former instructor in strategy and tactics in the US Army, and a member of the International Institute of Strategic Studies and the Institute of Regional Studies in Islamabad, Pakistan. Eric Margolis' books have been published in the US, Canada, Britain, and India. He often appears and contributes to national and international news items for outlets such as CNN, ABC,CBC and Voice of America to the Wall Street Journal and Maninichi-Tokyo. He broadcasts regularly on foreign affairs for Canadian TV (TV Ontario and CBC), radio, and has appeared on ABC, CBS, CNN, and PBS.

See Part 1 at: http://current.com/items/89517897/obama_s_foreign_policy_challenge.htm

See Part 2 at: http://current.com/items/89520249/the_war_without_an_objective.htm

See Part 3 at: http://current.com/items/89525320/margolis_on_how_to_resolve_afghan_conflict.htm
  • added November 22, 2008
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5 responses // What does the West owe Afghanistan?

  •  

    the west - this means the rest of the world - owe them the honor of 90% of heroin production and they give space to hide the taliban and al kaida

    oldgerman
  •  

    Well....I suppose we owe them the chance to build an infrastructure and form their own government, as they see fit.
    Perhaps that would employ enough people so they wouldn'y have to grow poppies in order to feed their families.

    We're all in this together.

    csmonut
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    What do we "OWE"? My God, I am fried on financial terminology. Balance sheets, favors and pay back. You hurt me more than I hurt you.....blah blah. SORRY.... Very educational and instructive video.all FOUR.
    Right now, I am watching the carnage at the hotel In India on CNN. I am so done with those who kill others for no reasons except their contrived own ones. That includes the USA, Mr Bush.
    And truthfully, those of us in the US better pay real close attention right now to this financial thing. Stock up on food, water, etc. and have at least some cash. I am not a looney. but a pragmatist. This is all looking very bad. My point here is, we should get the hell out of Afghanistan, Iraq, et al and work on saving the future of this place, sooner rather than later. DUH! We are everywhere over this world trying to be omniscient, and no way can it work for much longer. Do we owe those suffering in the world aid? YES!! BUT.......we don't have enough to aid ourselves, truly. And how much good can we do the world when we are speaking Chinese and wearing cardboard belts? If you can get ahold of a copy of "Iraq for Sale",DVD, watch it. We, aka the US citizen, has been getting royally raped by the private contractors in Iraq all these years, the Gov. knows, the military knows, once again, the rich getting richer and the US with NO money, in crisis, in Wars, borrowing more money from China, of all places, money that came from the Wall Marts of the good ole USA!!..........human rights violators of the world and current poisoned products producers, cheezy and lead based products exporters, and worst of all..........underage gymnasts!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so done.
    Who cares about turkeys anyway? [ except Sarah and her chamber of horrors ]

    QCBUCKI
  •  

    The smartest and sanest move the Russians made in recent years was the decision to leave Afghanistan for good. It simply wasn't worth the price in blood and bodies to perpetually inflate the Kremlin's hegemonic hubris.

    Try as he might, host Paul Jay keeps up with some very tired rhetoric, and again fails. His strangely skewed view is that it is the West's patronizing Duty to "save" the Afghans from their own way of life. Quite frankly the we "owe" them concept stinks of spin....
    No one can make killing innocent people into a crusade about morals while claiming that bombing campaigns are a mere step away from uplifting terrorized people into suburban utopias.

    Margolis wisely ignores Jay on this issue and persists that the only way out is OUT..

    The argument that it is a humanitarian obligation to turn countries into laboratories where they may be perfected is inanely imperialist: as much fantasy as farce. Such cultures where this has been attempted, in Africa, South America, and so on, inevitably find their own way and are happier that it is their OWN way. Anyone noticed we are not welcomed their, either?

    More honestly, Margolis and Jay both know that it is not the principle objective, militarily or politically, to improve these cultures and upgrade their well being - nor could we afford such a mission if it was.

    Our policies in public are weak and only vaguely allude to maintaining an ongoing geopolitical footprint in an area where it is best to leave. But what really is at stake perhaps is too inflamatory to be made public.

    The question remains: are we smart enough to get out? As QCBUCKI indicates there's more than enough that needs to be improved right here, right now.

    AveryMoore
  •  

    It was the US which lured the URSS into Afghanistan. The US destroyed most of what was left of Afghanistan's infrastructure, villages, buildings, etc., plus it rained thousands of tons of depleted uranium on that country; the US along with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia trained and financed the Taliban previous to the latter's entering and taking over the country - so yes, the US owes a great deal of reparation to that country, to its people. At least seven hundred billion dollars' worth of reparation plus cleaning out all the depleted uranium that is polluting most of the country.

    I lived for a while in Afghanistan back in 1971-1972. At that time, in the cities and towns, there were TVs, radios, cassette players, washing machines, western magazines (even Playboy) for sale, etc., and the women wore western clothes, high-heels, makeup, etc. In Kabul, there was an unofficial Marks and Spencers selling M&S clothes and shoes - it was called Marks and Sparks. There was a pizzeria, there were night-clubs, there were cinemas, and all that jazz. Women went to university, there were female doctors, lawyers, surgeons, engineers, and so on. Of course, in rural areas, there was hardly any of the above, as is generally the case in many countries.

    Vierotchka

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