Yesterday I heard Ralph Peters say that it wasn't worth losing a single American soldier over there given how "they" are reacting to a simple mistake.
The problem is in defining "they," isn't it? We say "they" have been rioting; and "they" have been attacking us in retaliation; and "they" have no gratitude for all "they" have received from us. We further wonder if "they" can be trusted to work with us in the field to fight the Taliban.
The problem is that "they" refer to different people in each case.
"They" have been rioting? Sure, a good portion of Afghanistan's population is pro-Taliban and can be worked up for a nice riot by our Taliban enemies. We've seen this before. Nothing new.
"They" have been attacking us in retaliation? "Retaliation" is a stupid description. "They"--the Taliban--have been attacking us for a long time now. What else do you expect them to do? And just because they continue to attack us after the mistake we made and claim it is in "retaliation" for the attempted Koran burning doesn't mean we should believe them. Why were "they" attacking us before the incident if the attacks are "retaliation" for one incident?
This proves "they" have no gratitude for our sacrifice? Oh please. The numbers don't seem to be that big. This is no broad uprising against us. This is loud and this is well-publicized. But the war goes on even with these riots taking place by people ill-disposed to us all along.
And God give me strength for even having to address the question of whether "they" can be trusted to work with us. We've lost 4 soldiers to attacks by Afghan soldiers. That's it. The overwhelming majority of Afghan security forces continue to work with us and fight at our side against the Taliban and their al Qaeda friends.
Our Taliban enemies would love it for us to see the actions by any part of Afghanistan's population as just another part of a singular "they" who can't be trusted, who are probably nuts, and who just want to kill us--so screw 'em all.
I suppose I should be grateful that it has taken several years for some conservatives to turn on the war waged by a president from the opposing party. Liberals only took several months to turn on Iraq.
But stuff happens in wartime. And I never forget that Peters went wobbly for a bit on Iraq, too, in the darkest days there. He recovered from that crisis of confidence and I bet he can again.
Remember, too, that we aren't fighting in Afghanistan as a favor to Afghans. We are fighting to build an Afghanistan capable of resisting efforts to turn their soil into a sanctuary that can be used to again strike our cities. It would be in our interest to achieve that objective even if 100% of Afghans can't be trusted, are nuts, and just want to kill us.
Get a grip. This is war and our enemies are trying to win. Don't make it easy for them by forgetting who they are and what they want. And don't forget why we are fighting. Work the problem.
UPDATE: Ah! Thank you Max Boot! A timely follow-up exactly on point:
Many Americans seem to be saying that if the Afghan people don't want us there, why should we stay? That's dubious logic because we are not in Afghanistan as a favor to the Afghan people. We are there to protect our own self-interest in not having their territory once again become a haven for al Qaeda.
It's also a fallacy to assume that most Afghans are anti-American. The protests, which tapered off Tuesday, have involved a few thousand people out of a population of 30 million. The attacks on Americans have been carried out by a handful of assailants. President Hamid Karzai has accepted President Obama's apology over the Quran-burning incident, condemned the violence and called for restraint. His security forces have policed the protests and suffered heavier casualties than our own.
And opinion polls show "they" support our military effort in Afghanistan.
Good grief, our jihadi enemies would love it if we wrongly conclude that we have no friends in Afghanistan--so it isn't really abandoning and betraying them--and wrongly conclude that we have no interests other then creating a feeling of universal love for America by people with 21st century Western ways of thinking and acting.
Man up and work the problem. Our enemies have far worse problems.
UPDATE: And Strategypage addresses the motives of the rioters:
Nearly all the violence has taken place in areas where the Taliban or drug gangs are active. As with many earlier protests, many of these are staged by the Taliban, and Taliban members, often armed, have been observed running the demonstrations.
It's not hard to hire a mob in Afghanistan, even if there is a risk of injury (from Afghan security personnel, who have inflicted all the injuries.) Afghans just don't like outsiders, and enjoy getting paid to express that.
And they discuss that we are beating the enemy. I swear, we are our own worst enemy.
Work the problem. Don't be the problem.
