Afghanistan Heats Up

The disturbing trend in Afghanistan of attacks by Taliban Militia units appears to be at least continuing and at worst accelerating. More than one observer fears what would amount to a major spring offensive by the Taliban is about to occur.

Aren’t these the guys that were supposedly beaten? I guess the continued insurgency in Iraq is fueling unrest in Afghanistan as well. This is not a good thing and simply reinforces the need for us to get out of the area as soon as possible.

Yes I understand that the result might be chaos and civil war, that withdrawing will jeopardize the oil supply and that it's uncertain what kind of political entity will emerge in the region after a civil war.

You’ll excuse me, but it’s a little late to worry about that now. Those were the reasons we said it was a dumb idea to enter Iraq in the first place. If we weren’t in Iraq, I doubt the lid in Afghanistan would be threatening to blow off.

We screwed up and we’re not going to be able to fix this one. Now the people of the region need to struggle with the situation and determine what they can salvage. They need to determine their own destiny. We can’t, and shouldn’t, be trying to ram our ideas down their throat. It’s not clear that a western style democracy, or any style democracy, is right for everyone at any time. It’s time to cut our loses and run like hell. Just more evidence that the Bush administration should be crowned the worst in the history of this country.