I wonder if those on the left who are critical of President Obama’s decision to send more American troops into Afghanistan have seriously considered what might happen if America simply pulled out of the country. Do they honestly think the Taliban insurgency would collapse?
In an ideal world, it’s possible that an American withdrawal will leave the Taliban without a foreign enemy that it can use to motivate its fighters and or encourage more Afghanis to join its ranks. Under this scenario, the Taliban wouldn’t be able to muster the resources they need to engineer a complete takeover of the country. But is it likely? Hardly, because we don’t live in an ideal world.
I contend that the most likely effect of an American withdrawal would be an ensuing takeover of the entire country. Given their past history of providing quasi-governmental support for al-Qaeda terrorists, it is also likely that the Taliban would do so again – especially since al-Qaeda and its Taliban allies now engaged in a heated conflict with Pakistani government troops. And if al-Qaeda can re-establish a base of operations in Afghanistan, they would be in a prime position to launch attacks against their neighbours in the region such as Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan – and China too, for that matter.
So why should this concern my friends on the left here in Europe and in America? After all, these countries are thousands of miles away from our homes, so any instability in this region of the world is unlikely to affect us or our way of life, right? Wrong.
Anyone who believes that al-Qaeda wouldn’t try to gain control of nuclear weapons, or that they wouldn’t actually use them if they did, is blatantly ignoring the Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders’ track record of recruiting and training suicide bombers to kill innocent, mostly Muslim civilians in an indiscriminate manner. They have no regard for human life, so why would they let the thought of killing a few million Muslims stand in the way of using nuclear weapons?
Whatever my friends on the left might think, the vast majority of political leaders around the world agree that this threat is very real. It’s also the reason why you don’t see or hear any of them criticising Obama’s decision to devote more resources to the conflict in Afghanistan.
But there is one more reason which gives the greatest support to my argument that Obama’s decision represents the most moral choice that he could make under the circumstances. It is also something none of my friends on the left appear to have ever considered. It is the fact that most Afghani civilians don’t want America to leave and allow their country to fall back into the clutches of the Taliban.
Unlike most of my leftist friends, I have actually discussed this issue with native Afghan men and women. They are disgusted by the inefficiency and corruption that characterises the current government in Kabul, but they have a much greater fear of what will happen to their friends and family if the Taliban ever regain power.
They reminded me that they had lived under Taliban rule once before, and that they didn’t know a single person back in Afghanistan who ever wanted to live that way again. One woman, for instance, also asked me to consider the fate that awaits women should the Taliban ever return to power.
Having done so, I would now ask my friends on the left to also take a moment to talk to some Afghan women about Obama’s decision before they cry out in protest.
Charles Laffiteau is a US Republican from Dallas, Texas who is pursuing a PhD in International Relations and lectures on Contemporary US Business & Society at DCU
