Post by futurist on Oct 27, 2018 0:34:57 GMT
What are your thoughts on the war in Afghanistan?
As for me, I am rather conflicted about it. I mean, this war doesn't appear to be going our way, but at the same time, it's uplifting to see Afghans participating in elections there--which suggests that many Afghans want democracy (albeit a flawed one) rather than authoritarian government. Also, while one would hope that the Taliban have changed over the last 17 years, they strongly mismanaged Afghanistan back when they were in power--rejecting pretty much all aspects of modernity. How exactly is Afghanistan supposed to modernize and industrialize if its government rejects modernity?
I mean, Afghanistan is currently very poor and there's no reason as to why it can't modernize and industrialize and get its GDP per capita to, say, Brazil's or Argentina's level or even higher than that. I would think that a democratic government would be more willing to modernize and industrialize Afghanistan than the Taliban would--though maybe I am wrong about that and the Taliban really did change over the last 17 years.
I'm not too concerned about Afghanistan becoming a safe haven for terrorists again since I would think that the Taliban have learned their lesson over the last 17 years. Of course, in any case, the U.S. can always hunt down, target, and kill terrorists in Afghanistan if the Taliban does decide to provide them with a safe haven there again (which I think is unlikely, but not completely impossible). Still, it does seem like our intervention has the potential to do some good for the Afghan people--providing them with modern medicine, helping to modernize and industrialize their country (even though this will take a very long while), et cetera. In turn, this is why I am squeamish about withdrawing from Afghanistan immediately; basically, I want to give this effort more time to yield results.
Anyway, what are your thoughts on this?
As for me, I am rather conflicted about it. I mean, this war doesn't appear to be going our way, but at the same time, it's uplifting to see Afghans participating in elections there--which suggests that many Afghans want democracy (albeit a flawed one) rather than authoritarian government. Also, while one would hope that the Taliban have changed over the last 17 years, they strongly mismanaged Afghanistan back when they were in power--rejecting pretty much all aspects of modernity. How exactly is Afghanistan supposed to modernize and industrialize if its government rejects modernity?
I mean, Afghanistan is currently very poor and there's no reason as to why it can't modernize and industrialize and get its GDP per capita to, say, Brazil's or Argentina's level or even higher than that. I would think that a democratic government would be more willing to modernize and industrialize Afghanistan than the Taliban would--though maybe I am wrong about that and the Taliban really did change over the last 17 years.
I'm not too concerned about Afghanistan becoming a safe haven for terrorists again since I would think that the Taliban have learned their lesson over the last 17 years. Of course, in any case, the U.S. can always hunt down, target, and kill terrorists in Afghanistan if the Taliban does decide to provide them with a safe haven there again (which I think is unlikely, but not completely impossible). Still, it does seem like our intervention has the potential to do some good for the Afghan people--providing them with modern medicine, helping to modernize and industrialize their country (even though this will take a very long while), et cetera. In turn, this is why I am squeamish about withdrawing from Afghanistan immediately; basically, I want to give this effort more time to yield results.
Anyway, what are your thoughts on this?