Afghanistan after all straddles three influential regions (the Indian subcontinent, Central Asia, and Iran); has seen multiple invaders through the years; was caught in the "Great Game" of British India and Russia, the Cold War, and civil war in the 1990s; and has since then sanctioned terrorism and insurgency. Historically, successful models of governance in Afghanistan were those where the central authorities were satisfied with directly controlling the urban areas, while having a limited indirect control over the periphery, provided the latter did not pose a challenge to their reign.
One of the truest axioms of recorded history is that those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it. The Russians ignored the futility of past British armies fighting in Afghanistan. In 1979, they invaded the country ostensibly to liberate the people, but actually sought to impose a communist regime favorable to Russian interests. The United States, the United Kingdom, China and Pakistan all supported the Afghans in opposing the Russian army. Perhaps we remember when CBS anchorman Dan Rather dressed in Mujahideen garb and embedded with the Mujahideen in its battle against the Russian occupiers. We may also recall President Jimmy Carter's statement that the Russian invasion of Afghanistan was the most serious threat to peace since World War II.
On April 11, 1975, Congress turned its back on the sacrifice of 58,000 American lives, 350,000 casualties and an $800 billion investment. The House voted down a Nixon administration request for $700 million in emergency aid to South Vietnam. Saigon's small U.S.- style army - created through "Vietnamization" but wholly dependent on American logistics - fought valiantly, but without air power fell before a hugely superior North Vietnamese conventional invasion strongly backed by Soviet and Chinese communism. The spectacle of helicopters frantically lifting stranded Americans from the Saigon embassy rooftop brought a helter-skelter conclusion to "Vietnam," a dismal, excruciatingly painful chapter in American foreign policy.
KABUL -- The Taliban's reclusive leader said in a Muslim holiday message Saturday that the U.S. and NATO should study Afghanistan's long history of war, in a pointed reminder that foreign forces have had limited military success in the country. The message from Mullah Omar comes less than a month before the eighth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan to oust the Taliban for hosting al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
For centuries, Afghan society has been complex and divided, despite efforts by so many contemporary government officials and news analysts to transform those complexities into a black-and- white battle of good against evil. Widespread poverty challenges the best efforts to improve the Afghan economy. Internal ethnic and political rivalries have been divisive for centuries.
While trying to establish a legitimate and stable government in Afghanistan, Roe suggests that the Coalition force should look to earlier British management of the North-West Frontier for an example. He adds that many of the British lessons from the North-West Frontier can be incorporated to support a coherent four-step plan for the reconstruction of Afghanistan. Some of the lessons learned and recommended actions are detailed.
Switch "Afghan" with "Vietnamese" and you experience a chilling sense of dj vu while reading "Opium Season. The real-life story offers a perfect example of the old saying: Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. It's a lesson author Joel Hafvenstein relearns as a condition of employment in perhaps the "dirtiest job" in foreign service - as a contractor in the Taliban / Khan-ruled poppy fields of Afghanistan.
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