Idaho Statesman Logo

Commentary: U.S.-Afghan history overlooked in Obama address | Idaho Statesman

×
  • E-edition
  • Home
    • Customer Service
    • Mobile & Apps
    • Archives
    • Buy Photos and Pages
    • Contact Us
    • Newsletters
    • Newspaper in Education
    • Subscribe
    • Subscriber Services

    • News
    • Boise
    • West Ada
    • Canyon County
    • Crime
    • State News
    • Nation/World News
    • Databases
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Idahoans in the Military
    • Weather
    • Traffic
    • Helping Works
    • In the Classroom
    • Our Community
    • Sports
    • Boise State Football
    • Boise State Basketball
    • Idaho Vandals
    • High Schools
    • Bronco Beat
    • Chadd Cripe
    • Varsity Extra Blog
    • NFL
    • NBA
    • NHL
    • MLB
    • Golf
    • Idaho Politics
    • Elections
    • Government and Business
    • Capitol & State
    • Letters from the West
    • National Politics
    • Business
    • Business Insider
    • Business Columns & Blogs
    • Personal Finance
    • Legal Notices
    • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Bill Manny
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Guest Opinion
    • Submit a Letter or Opinion
    • Entertainment
    • Events Calendar
    • Restaurant Reviews
    • Arts and Culture
    • Festivals
    • Movie Reviews
    • Movie Showtimes
    • Music
    • Television
    • Books
    • Comics
    • Puzzles & Games
    • Horoscopes
    • Puzzles
    • Words & Deeds
    • ArtsBeat
    • Outdoors
    • Playing Outdoors Blog
    • Biking
    • Camping
    • Fishing
    • Hiking and Trails
    • Hunting
    • Winter Recreation
    • Living
    • Food & Drink
    • Health & Fitness
    • Home & Garden
    • Treasure
    • Pets
    • Religion
    • Travel
    • Best of Treasure Valley
    • Heart of the Treasure Valley
    • Margaret Lauterbach
    • Tim Woodward
    • Carolyn Hax
  • Obituaries

  • Contests
  • Advertise
  • Classifieds
  • Jobs
  • Cars
  • Homes
  • Place An Ad

  • About Us
  • Mobile & Apps

News

Commentary: U.S.-Afghan history overlooked in Obama address

Roy Gutman - McClatchy Newspapers

    ORDER REPRINT →

December 07, 2009 09:00 AM

President Obama left a major element out of his West Point address Tuesday as he announced the deployment of 30,0000 troops to Afghanistan: the modern history of America's involvement in that faraway, landlocked country.

It was an extraordinary omission for a president who looks for his model to Abraham Lincoln, a president steeped in history. In declaring that the coming military offensive is aimed at defeating al-Qaeda, which has a small presence now in Afghanistan, Obama made it all the harder to claim public support for an extended engagement in a country that has been at the center of so much history in the last half century.

He also made it all the harder to convince Afghans, who after three decades of war are being asked to prepare for still more sacrifices.

It's 30 years since the Dec. 26, 1979, Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, an action that badly rattled the Carter administration until it made the critical decision to infiltrate military support to a fledging Afghan resistance. The Reagan administration expanded the program, and 20 years ago, the Red Army left. The United States played a critical role in the nine years and 50 days of that war, supplying every form of support it could to Afghans to drive up the cost of occupation and force the Soviets to leave.

Sign Up and Save

Get six months of free digital access to The Idaho Statesman

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

#ReadLocal

The Soviet troop withdrawal Feb. 15, 1989, also deserved mention in Obama's speech, for it was the first step — and in many ways the necessary one — before all the events of that epochal year, which climaxed with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the overthrow of communist rule in Eastern Europe. The link between the events was in Moscow.

Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev took advantage of the exhaustion and demoralization of the Red Army in Afghanistan to gain a grip on his security forces and prevent an armed intervention in the revolutions sweeping across Eastern Europe.

At the same time, the triumph of Afghans fighting a superpower with mostly simple weapons and in the most difficult of circumstances also helped inspire people throughout the communist world into peaceful revolt.

The reaction in Washington, as anyone who saw "Charlie Wilson's War" will recall, was triumphalism. Although the CIA claimed that "we won," no American life was lost — but a million Afghans died in the resistance. The United States had used Afghanistan as a platform to attack the Soviet Union and taken little interest in the country or its people. Instead, it turned to the United Nations to organize a political settlement. After a brief and modest U.S. effort to bring a friendly government into power in Kabul, the United States left the scene, turning American policy in Afghanistan over to Pakistani military government.

Even as communism fell, as Europe became whole and free, and as the United States under Bill Clinton celebrated a "peace dividend" with unprecedented prosperity, Afghans, with Pakistan pushing its favored Islamist proxy, were left to fight an internal conflict that has continued over two decades.

Under Clinton, the United States dropped support for any parties to the internal conflict and stopped close monitoring of internal affairs. The United States cut off all aid and stopped receiving refugees. Clinton looked to the Taliban as a stabilizing force in Afghanistan. He tried in vain through his diplomats to persuade the Taliban to hand over Osama bin Laden, long after the Taliban made clear they would do nothing of the kind. That was the first abandonment.

After the 9/11 attacks, which bin Laden organized and directed from his sanctuary in Afghanistan, President George W. Bush sent in minimal forces to help topple the Taliban. But he, too, used Afghanistan as a platform — in this case for attacking the remnants of the al-Qaeda and the Taliban that had escaped to Pakistan.

The U.S. military, playing a lead role in the "war on terror," had limited contacts with Afghans outside Kabul, mainly to seek protection for U.S. troops. In the process, it gave a new boost to corrupt and discredited warlords and used force without much concern for civilian casualties. U.S. commanders didn't grasp until several years into the mission that Afghanistan has a tribal structure. The Taliban closely monitored the American method of operation, and took advantage of every misstep.

Obama could have made the moral argument that the United States is in historic debt to the people of Afghanistan, and that twice in the immediate past it abandoned the country. Obama also might have acknowledged that Democrats made mistakes on their watch in the 1990s, as Republicans made mistakes on their watch in the 1980s and in the current decade.

Had he made the argument, he might also have explained to Americans that despite the episodic relationship with Afghanistan, with intense involvement alternating with abandonment, it's a real country with people who have legitimate aspirations to stability and security.

Democrats have never done much soul-searching about their role in the events leading up to the 9/11 attacks, nor have Republicans. Since no one has owned up, politicians of both parties on Capitol Hill feel no shame in posturing and critiquing Obama's moves. So Obama will be lucky if he can maintain enough support even to turn the adverse tide in Afghanistan. Finishing the job, bringing real stability to Afghanistan, ensuring that it doesn't become a base again for terrorists may prove beyond his reach.

ABOUT THE WRITER

Roy Gutman, foreign editor for McClatchy Newspapers, is author of "How We Missed the Story, Osama bin Laden, the Taliban and the Hijacking of Afghanistan" (USIP Press). He won the Pulitzer Prize for foreign affairs coverage in 1993. Readers may write to him at: McClatchy Newspapers, 700 12th Street NW, Suite 1000, Washington, D.C. 20005.

  Comments  

Videos

Tim Eyman under investigation in theft of chair from Lacey Office Depot

Washington music teacher sings ‘Snow Day’ after classes are called off -- again

View More Video

Trending Stories

One of Boise’s most unique houses is for sale. Here’s a peek inside.

February 16, 2019 07:21 PM

Perfection spoiled: Eagle knocks off undefeated team for first girls basketball title

February 16, 2019 10:38 PM

This employee worried ITD’s radiation tools were missing. Then he got fired. Now, he’s suing

February 17, 2019 01:00 AM

Man in custody after breaking into home, brandishing handgun, fleeing into Kuna desert

February 17, 2019 07:05 PM

53rd straight win gives Soda Springs another championship; District Three struggles

February 16, 2019 12:16 PM

Read Next

Saudi minister assails Iran for blaming Riyadh in attack

Nation & World

Saudi minister assails Iran for blaming Riyadh in attack

By MUNIR AHMED Associated Press

    ORDER REPRINT →

February 18, 2019 03:09 AM

Senior Saudi diplomat assails Iran for initially blaming kingdom in deadly attack on Iran's Revolutionary Guard.

KEEP READING

Sign Up and Save

#ReadLocal

Get six months of free digital access to The Idaho Statesman

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

MORE NEWS

World stocks mixed ahead of further China-US trade talks

Business

World stocks mixed ahead of further China-US trade talks

February 18, 2019 03:09 AM

Business

Australia blames ‘state actor’ for hacking political parties

February 18, 2019 03:01 AM
Semenya arrives for landmark case at Swiss sports tribunal

Entertainment

Semenya arrives for landmark case at Swiss sports tribunal

February 18, 2019 03:15 AM
China seizes $1.5 billion in online lending crackdown

Business

China seizes $1.5 billion in online lending crackdown

February 18, 2019 02:53 AM
For sake of pupils’ pupils, China to ban homework on apps

Business

For sake of pupils’ pupils, China to ban homework on apps

February 18, 2019 02:52 AM

Nation & World

EU states ponder Trump demand to take back IS fighters

February 18, 2019 02:52 AM
Take Us With You

Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand.

Icon for mobile apps

Idaho Statesman App

View Newsletters

Subscriptions
  • Start a Subscription
  • Customer Service
  • eEdition
  • Vacation Hold
  • Pay Your Bill
  • Rewards
Learn More
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletters
  • News in Education
  • Archives
Advertising
  • Information
  • Place a Classified
  • Local Deals
  • Place an Obituary
  • Today's Circulars
Copyright
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service


Back to Story