I've just read in the news that a majority of Australians asked wanted the troops brought home from Afghanistan before Christmas. Although I too wish that no troops from any country should need to be away from home, there is still a need for troops to be in Afghanistan. The job just isn't done yet.
The initial reason they went in was to oust the Taliban, and although they have been moved out of the seats of power, they still exist, and will step into any power vacuum. So that job isn't yet done. The allies wanted to bring stability, and to give the actual residents a say in who governs them. This again is half done. Many areas are now seeing a sort of stability, however the total job is not done yet. Another goal was to give the Afghan economy a bit of stability so it could move away from an agrarian economy to something a bit more sustainable. Again, job not finished. As the economy is almost totally dependant on money brought in from the sale of opiates. One of the jobs that is progressing quite well is the rebuilding of infrastructure that the Taliban destroyed. Namely schools, hospitals, and other types of infrastructure that we take for granted.
The Taliban wanted it's people to be ignorant, so that they would need to turn to their clerics for guidance in all things. They wanted religion (their version of it) to rule all aspects of Afghan life, giving the clerics the power that Kings had in the Dark Ages. They destroyed schools, any symbol of any other religion that wasn't their form of Islam, much of the infrastructure of the country in fact. There were few telephones, almost no internet, or television. That way the people in Afghanistan would be kept ignorant of what was happening in the rest of the world, and the only news they would get, would be from the Taliban. The Taliban banned sport from being played. If you were unlucky enough to be female, you were treated very poorly, and had almost no rights. If you wanted to go to the market to pick up food, you needed to have a male relative along with you. You would not be allowed to go to school, or hold a job. If you were unfortunate enough to be raped, you could be jailed, or worse. Is this the kind of life that we wish to leave as our legacy of being there ??
We Australians like to think we are smarter than the Americans. In fact many take great pride in pointing out the failings of the U.S. It's one of these failings in foreign policy that led to the problems in Afghanistan that we are trying to combat. Namely, when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1980, the U.S. took an interest in Afghanistan, and those who were fighting the Soviets. After awhile, the U.S. started to send military equipment to the Mujaheddin, and use the conflict as a testing ground for new weapon systems. At the time, Bin Laden was an ally and friend of the U.S. The Afghan Mujaheddin managed to force the Soviets to retreat. Once the fighting stopped, so did the interest in the area. Suddenly there was no more money, or equipment for the people of Afghanistan. When the Mujaheddin tried to contact the U.S. State Department to ask for aid, they were basically told to "get lost". Their country was in ruin from many years of war and neglect, and the Mujaheddin only wanted to rebuild their country, and to live in peace. The Taliban moved in and offered them stability and order.
If we pull out now, while the Afghans are not yet fully capable of governing themselves, the Taliban will march right back in and establish it's control over the people once again. We would be making the same mistake that the U.S. made, making us just as stupid as we accuse them of being. It would also mean our efforts over the last 10 years would have been in vain. The lives lost in the fight to give the people of Afghanistan the freedom they deserve, would have been lost for nothing.
In conclusion, I mourn each person lost, and I do not wish for our troops to be there any longer than is necessary, but they must finish the job that we gave them. We must not repeat the mistakes that have already made.
To those who have had to do this job, you have my undying gratitude, and unwavering support.
