AFGHANISTAN'S NEVER ENDING WAR - THE LONG AND WINDING ROADS FOR AMERICANS

Going beyond the stereotypes of Kalashnikov-wielding Afghan mujahideen and black-turbaned Taliban fundamentalists, Dr. Larry Goodson explains in this concise analysis of the Afghan war what has really been happening in Afghanistan in the last 20 years, and why the future of Afghanistan matters.

Beginning with the reasons behind Afghanistan's inability to forge a strong state, its myriad cleavages along ethnic, religious, social, and geographical fault lines, Goodson then examines the devastating course of the war itself.

He charts its utter destruction of the country, from the deaths of more than 2 million Afghans and the dispersal of some 6 million others as refugees to the complete collapse of its economy, which today has been replaced by mono-agriculture in opium poppies and heroin production. The Taliban, some of whose leaders Goodson interviewed as recently as 1997, now uneasily control roughly 80 percent of the country but themselves show increasing discord along ethnic and political lines. What happens in Afghanistan in the future will continue to affect stability and security in an increasingly important region of the post-Cold War world.

 

The defense secretary, Leon E. Panetta, recently announced that America hoped to end its combat mission in Afghanistan in 2013 as it did in Iraq last year.  Yet at Guantánamo Bay and elsewhere, the United States continues to hold enemy detainees “for the duration of hostilities.”   

 

Indeed, the “ending” of combat in Afghanistan and Iraq appears to have no consequences for the ending of detention. Because the end of a war is traditionally thought to be the moment when a president’s war powers begin to ebb, bringing combat to a close in Afghanistan and Iraq should lead to a reduction in executive power — including the legitimate basis for detaining the enemy. 

 

But there is a disconnect today between the wars that are ending and the “war” that is used to justify ongoing detention of prisoners. Originally, the war in Afghanistan was part of the Bush administration’s “war on terror.”  This framing had rhetorical power, but it quickly drew criticism because a war on terror has no boundaries in space or time, and no prospect of ever ending. 

When he took office, President Obama abandoned the “war on terror” rhetoric, focusing instead on Iraq and Afghanistan. American war now seemed more manageable and traditional. A confined war in a specific war zone was a war that presumably could end once the enemy was defeated within that territory. But it was not so simple: Qaeda fighters slipped over the Afghan border to Pakistan, extending the zone of conflict.

Source: Al Jazeera, NYTimes, Agencies