Sam PF's Journal - On a more sobering note
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12:52 am
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On a more sobering note
President Obama has killed his first civilians (that we know of) since taking office. In Afghanistan (see previous link), and also in Pakistan. They will not be the last.
The rate of US air strikes in Afghanistan increased substantially over 2008, frequently killing men, women and children who have nothing to do with the Taliban or any other armed group.
Wedding parties - possibly because of the custom there of firing into the air in celebration - appear to be a particular target. One particularly poignant example of this came on November 5th 2008. While we were all busy celebrating a new dawn of hope in the USA, one village's more private celebration was turned into horror and carnage. By Americans. By Americans fighting the war Obama supports. That, in fact, he wants to escalate.
Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai has repeatedly begged the USA to refrain from this indiscriminate use of airpower (including in a call to Obama just after his election), which in addition to the death and destruction it causes must recruit twice as many Taleban as the US can kill with the bombs that do hit their intended targets. Likewise Pakistan's new democratically-elected government under Ali Zardari has repeatedly asked first Bush and now Obama to end attacks on his country - which are quite clearly a violation of Pakistan's soveriegnty.
Pakistan are themselves facing a major insurgency from the Taleban and other extremist groups on their side of the border, which have extracted a heavy toll on Pakistani civilians and military over the past few years. The new government is following a mix of policies, trying to negotiate with those groups that seem reconcilable, while using military force against those that do not. They will no doubt get things wrong in various ways - but these will be ways chosen by a government which, however flawed, was elected by the Pakistani people - rather than by a foreign power or a dictator supported by that power. US involvement in this conflict is not going to help. If the battle against the Pakistani Taleban is seen as part of an American war, that is going to turn people against the government and towards the extremists. (For one very thoughtful discussion of Pakistan and US Democrat attitudes to it, see this article in the Informed Comment Global Affairs blog.
As for Afghanistan, everything suggests things are getting worse, and foreign forces are probably, IMO, more part of the problem than part of the solution, especially with their current tactics involving heavy reliance on air power. (Aside from all the problems that inevitably attend a foreign army of occupation in a completely different culture). Not saying I know what the solution is. (Though the idea that "we" should provide a "solution" to Afghanistan is itself highly problematic.) But I'm pretty darned sure that the current approach of trying to bomb the way to peace is not the answer, or that doubling troop numbers as Obama plans is going to help matters.
Maybe Obama will find a better way of doing things. He is the New Hope Superman Messiah after all. But I'm not optimistic.
Tags: politics, war
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