Andrew Bacevich<\/a>:<\/p>\n„What is it about Afghanistan, possessing next to nothing that the United States requires, that justifies such lavish attention? In Washington, this question goes not only unanswered but unasked. Among Democrats and Republicans alike, with few exceptions, Afghanistan\u2019s importance is simply assumed\u2014much the way fifty years ago otherwise intelligent people simply assumed that the United States had a vital interest in ensuring the survival of South Vietnam. As then, so today, the assumption does not stand up to even casual scrutiny.<\/p>\n
…<\/p>\n
Fixing Afghanistan is not only unnecessary, it\u2019s also likely to prove impossible. Not for nothing has the place acquired the nickname Graveyard of Empires. Of course, Americans, insistent that the dominion over which they preside does not meet the definition of empire, evince little interest in how Brits, Russians, or other foreigners have fared in attempting to impose their will on the Afghans. As General David McKiernan, until just recently the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, put it, \u201cThere\u2019s always an inclination to relate what we\u2019re doing with previous nations,\u201d adding, \u201cI think that\u2019s a very unhealthy comparison.\u201d McKiernan was expressing a view common among the ranks of the political and military elite: We\u2019re Americans. We\u2019re different. Therefore, the experience of others does not apply.<\/p>\n
Of course, Americans like McKiernan who reject as irrelevant the experience of others might at least be willing to contemplate the experience of the United States itself. Take the case of Iraq, now bizarrely trumpeted in some quarters as a \u201cs<\/p>\n
uccess\u201d and even more bizarrely seen as offering a template for how to turn Afghanistan around.<\/p>\n
Much has been made of the United States Army\u2019s rediscovery of (and growing infatuation with) counterinsurgency doctrine, applied in Iraq beginning in late 2006 when President Bush announced his so-called surge and anointed General David Petraeus as the senior U.S. commander in Baghdad. Yet technique is no substitute for strategy. Violence in Iraq may be down, but evidence of the promised political reconciliation that the surge was intended to produce remains elusive. America\u2019s Mesopotamian misadventure continues.<\/p>\n
…<\/p>\n
So the answer to the question of the hour\u2014What should the United States do about Afghanistan?\u2014comes down to this: A sense of realism and a sense of proportion should oblige us to take a minimalist approach. As with Uruguay or Fiji or Estonia or other countries where U.S. interests are limited, the United States should undertake to secure those interests at the lowest cost possible.<\/p>\n
What might this mean in practice? General Petraeus, now commanding United States Central Command, recently commented that \u201cthe mission is to ensure that Afghanistan does not again become a sanctuary for Al Qaeda and other transnational extremists,\u201d in effect \u201cto deny them safe havens in which they can plan and train for such attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mission statement is a sound one. The current approach to accomplishing the mission is not sound and, indeed, qualifies as counterproductive. Note that denying Al Qaeda safe havens in Pakistan hasn\u2019t required U.S. forces to occupy the frontier regions of that country. Similarly, denying Al Qaeda safe havens in Afghanistan shouldn\u2019t require military occupation by the United States and its allies.<\/p>\n
It would be much better to let local authorities do the heavy lifting. Provided appropriate incentives, the tribal chiefs who actually run Afghanistan are best positioned to prevent terrorist networks from establishing a large-scale presence. As a backup, intensive surveillance complemented with precision punitive strikes (assuming we can manage to kill the right people) will suffice to disrupt Al Qaeda\u2019s plans. Certainly, that approach offers a cheaper and more efficient alter-native to establishing a large-scale and long-term U.S. ground presence\u2014which, as the U.S. campaigns in both Iraq and Afghanistan have demonstrated, has the unintended effect of handing jihadists a recruiting tool that they are quick to exploit.<\/p>\n
In the immediate wake of 9\/11, all the talk\u2014much of it emanating from neoconservative quarters\u2014was about achieving a \u201cdecisive victory\u201d over terror. The reality is that we can\u2019t eliminate every last armed militant harboring a grudge against the West. Nor do we need to. As long as we maintain adequate defenses, Al Qaeda operatives, hunkered down in their caves, pose no more than a modest threat. As for the Taliban, unless they manage to establish enclaves in places like New Jersey or Miami, the danger they pose to the United States falls several notches below the threat posed by Cuba, which is no threat at all.<\/p>\n
As for the putatively existential challenge posed by Islamic radicalism, that project will prove ultimately to be a self-defeating one. What violent Islamists have on offer-a rejection of modernity that aims to restore the caliphate and unify the ummah<\/em> [community]\u2014doesn\u2019t sell. In this regard, Iran\u2014its nuclear aspirations the subject of much hand-wringing\u2014offers considerable cause for hope. Much like the Castro revolution that once elicited so much angst in Washington, the Islamic revolution launched in 1979 has failed resoundingly. Observers once feared that the revolution inspired and led by the Ayatollah Khomeini would sweep across the Persian Gulf. In fact, it has accomplished precious little. Within Iran itself, the Islamic republic no longer represents the hopes and aspirations of the Iranian people, as the tens of thousands of protesters who recently filled the streets of Tehran and other Iranian cities made evident. Here we see foretold the fate awaiting the revolutionary cause that Osama bin Laden purports to promote.<\/p>\nIn short, time is on our side, not on the side of those who proclaim their intention of turning back the clock to the fifteenth century. The ethos of consumption and individual autonomy, privileging the here and now over the eternal, will conquer the Muslim world as surely as it is conquering East Asia and as surely as it has already conquered what was once known as Christendom.“<\/p>\n
Mehr lesen<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In Afghanistan gibt es diese Teppiche, die sich mit akuellen Geschehnissen besch\u00e4ftigen. Dieser hier ist r\u00e4tselhafter Weise \u00fcberschrieben mit „Leader have come with American Force“ und handelt vom Krieg gegen den Terrorismus. (Mehr hier.) Andere Teppiche besch\u00e4ftigen sich mit dem Abzug der Sowjets. Und wenn man diese Teppiche anschaut, weht einen schon ein gewisser Def\u00e4tismus […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[151,154],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-afghanistan","category-curiosa"],"yoast_head":"\n
Def\u00e4tistische Gedanken beim Betrachten von Kriegsteppichen aus Afghanistan - J\u00f6rg Lau<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/2009\/08\/06\/kriegsteppich_2816\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"de_DE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Def\u00e4tistische Gedanken beim Betrachten von Kriegsteppichen aus Afghanistan - J\u00f6rg Lau\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In Afghanistan gibt es diese Teppiche, die sich mit akuellen Geschehnissen besch\u00e4ftigen. Dieser hier ist r\u00e4tselhafter Weise \u00fcberschrieben mit „Leader have come with American Force“ und handelt vom Krieg gegen den Terrorismus. (Mehr hier.) Andere Teppiche besch\u00e4ftigen sich mit dem Abzug der Sowjets. Und wenn man diese Teppiche anschaut, weht einen schon ein gewisser Def\u00e4tismus […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/2009\/08\/06\/kriegsteppich_2816\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"J\u00f6rg Lau\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-08-06T13:22:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/files\/2009\/08\/warrug.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"J\u00f6rg Lau\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Geschrieben von\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"J\u00f6rg Lau\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Gesch\u00e4tzte Lesezeit\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5\u00a0Minuten\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/2009\/08\/06\/kriegsteppich_2816\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/2009\/08\/06\/kriegsteppich_2816\",\"name\":\"Def\u00e4tistische Gedanken beim Betrachten von Kriegsteppichen aus Afghanistan - J\u00f6rg Lau\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-08-06T13:22:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-08-06T13:22:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/#\/schema\/person\/55f0be9bfac24815791fbc852b042f57\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/2009\/08\/06\/kriegsteppich_2816#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"de\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/2009\/08\/06\/kriegsteppich_2816\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/2009\/08\/06\/kriegsteppich_2816#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Startseite\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Def\u00e4tistische Gedanken beim Betrachten von Kriegsteppichen aus Afghanistan\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/\",\"name\":\"J\u00f6rg Lau\",\"description\":\"Ein Blog \u00fcber Religion und Politik\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"de\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/#\/schema\/person\/55f0be9bfac24815791fbc852b042f57\",\"name\":\"J\u00f6rg Lau\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"de\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a5fe39bf4f5335b8bac36eefa0b41467221b1598bfea5f05159a0199e391eed0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a5fe39bf4f5335b8bac36eefa0b41467221b1598bfea5f05159a0199e391eed0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"J\u00f6rg Lau\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/author\/joerg-lau\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Def\u00e4tistische Gedanken beim Betrachten von Kriegsteppichen aus Afghanistan - J\u00f6rg Lau","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/2009\/08\/06\/kriegsteppich_2816","og_locale":"de_DE","og_type":"article","og_title":"Def\u00e4tistische Gedanken beim Betrachten von Kriegsteppichen aus Afghanistan - J\u00f6rg Lau","og_description":"In Afghanistan gibt es diese Teppiche, die sich mit akuellen Geschehnissen besch\u00e4ftigen. Dieser hier ist r\u00e4tselhafter Weise \u00fcberschrieben mit „Leader have come with American Force“ und handelt vom Krieg gegen den Terrorismus. (Mehr hier.) Andere Teppiche besch\u00e4ftigen sich mit dem Abzug der Sowjets. Und wenn man diese Teppiche anschaut, weht einen schon ein gewisser Def\u00e4tismus […]","og_url":"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/2009\/08\/06\/kriegsteppich_2816","og_site_name":"J\u00f6rg Lau","article_published_time":"2009-08-06T13:22:44+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/files\/2009\/08\/warrug.jpg"}],"author":"J\u00f6rg Lau","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Geschrieben von":"J\u00f6rg Lau","Gesch\u00e4tzte Lesezeit":"5\u00a0Minuten"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/2009\/08\/06\/kriegsteppich_2816","url":"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/2009\/08\/06\/kriegsteppich_2816","name":"Def\u00e4tistische Gedanken beim Betrachten von Kriegsteppichen aus Afghanistan - J\u00f6rg Lau","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-08-06T13:22:44+00:00","dateModified":"2009-08-06T13:22:44+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/#\/schema\/person\/55f0be9bfac24815791fbc852b042f57"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/2009\/08\/06\/kriegsteppich_2816#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"de","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/2009\/08\/06\/kriegsteppich_2816"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/2009\/08\/06\/kriegsteppich_2816#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Startseite","item":"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Def\u00e4tistische Gedanken beim Betrachten von Kriegsteppichen aus Afghanistan"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/","name":"J\u00f6rg Lau","description":"Ein Blog \u00fcber Religion und Politik","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"de"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/#\/schema\/person\/55f0be9bfac24815791fbc852b042f57","name":"J\u00f6rg Lau","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"de","@id":"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a5fe39bf4f5335b8bac36eefa0b41467221b1598bfea5f05159a0199e391eed0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a5fe39bf4f5335b8bac36eefa0b41467221b1598bfea5f05159a0199e391eed0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"J\u00f6rg Lau"},"url":"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/author\/joerg-lau"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pG02W-Jq","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2816\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/files\/2009\/08\/warrug.jpg\" "\\"warrug\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n