No serious person thinks that Afghanistan – remote, impoverished, barely qualifying as a nation-state – seriously matters to the United States. Yet with the war in its ninth year, the passions raised by the debate over how to proceed there are serious indeed. Afghanistan elicits such passions because people understand that in rendering his decision on Afghanistan, President Obama will declare himself on several much larger issues. In this sense, Afghanistan is a classic proxy war, with the main protagonists here in the United States.
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Peace and Justice Post
Afghanistan – The Proxy War
No serious person thinks that Afghanistan – remote, impoverished, barely qualifying as a nation-state – seriously matters to the United States. Yet with the war in its ninth year, the passions raised by the debate over how to proceed there are serious indeed. Afghanistan elicits such passions because people understand that in rendering his decision on Afghanistan, President Obama will declare himself on several much larger issues. In this sense, Afghanistan is a classic proxy war, with the main protagonists here in the United States.
Continues >>
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Tags: Afghanistan, Andrew J. Bacevich, global military presence, McChrystal plan, President Obama
This entry was posted on October 13, 2009 at 9:43 am and is filed under Afghanistan, Commentary, President Barack Obama, Uncategorized, US policy, USA, war. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.