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Who Cares What Happens in Afghanistan?
At first glance Afghanistan would hardly seem to be worth the fighting that has occurred for its control. However, what many would dismiss as a mountainous wasteland has proven to be the focus of considerable activity on behalf of the most powerful nations on the planet. In the 1970’s the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and prompted years of American assistance to Afghan guerillas. As so frequently occurs in international relations, today’s allies prove to be tomorrow’s enemies. In the 1990’s the Taliban leadership of Afghanistan created a festering miasma of anti-Americanism. The United States would launch its own military action in Afghanistan in the wake of revelations linking the Taliban government and the terrorist attacks of 9/11. The Taliban was toppled and a new Afghan Constitution was approved in early 2004.
The argument can be made that the world’s attention should now be turned away from Afghanistan. The Taliban has been removed from power. The mission has been accomplished and unfortunately, Afghanistan simply cannot be seen as of vital interest to the West. It is of little strategic value. Unlike other countries that demand the attention of the United States, Afghanistan has no vast reservoirs of oil. Afghanistan has none of the other precious resources that the West needs. In fact, its main export is opium, which the nations of the western world would like to see confined to Afghanistan. Admittedly, Afghanistan had some importance in the wake of 9/11, but the situation has been resolved. Other, more important, matters beckon.
The counterargument is compelling, however. It cannot be said that Afghanistan mattered in the period after 9/11 but that it doesn’t matter now. The removal of the Taliban was only the first step in a much longer journey. The success of a new Afghanistan is anything but a certainty. Militant Islamic terrorists loyal to the Taliban have spent much of 2004 engaging in acts of violence intended to prevent this new democratic chapter in Afghanistan. If they succeed, it would not be unthinkable for the Taliban to reassert control over the country. In 2001 the world learned the bitter lesson of what happens when Afghanistan is controlled by religious fundamentalists who offer support to groups like Al Queda. It would be an act of supreme foolishness for the United States to go to the trouble of removing the Taliban and then not follow it up with the actions necessary to prevent the Taliban from resuming power. It is not enough that the Taliban has been ousted. Steps must be taken to insure a representative government in Afghanistan. To ignore Afghanistan is to court disaster.
Do you agree that the fate of Afghanistan should be a priority of the United States government? Did the United States achieve its most important objective with the removal of the Taliban?
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