When Pres. Bush decided to invade Afghanistan after 9/11 I said "Didn't he learn anything from Viet Nam?" When Obama made Afghanistan a focus during his campaign I wondered but was hopeful. Now that he is requesting more troops I've been skeptical.
Then I re-read THREE CUPS OF TEA and was reminded again of how terrible the Taliban are and how many promises Americans made to Afghanistan. When we helped the Afghanistanis against Russia we promised aid after the war which we never delivered. When we attacked the Taliban after 9/11 we promised aid for rebuilding but then did not follow through because we attacked Iraq and shifted the resources to that conflict.
Now what? How long will it take? It appears that the Afghan central government is corrupt. Can we successfully do nation building? If we leave it appears that the Taliban will quickly resume control. Will the war in Afghanistan do to President Obama what the war in Viet Nam did to President Johnson? If the Russians, whose proximity to Afghanistan is much closer than America's, could not prevail can we?
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