Tuesday, April 13, 2004

A word on the War

The first thing that occured to me re-reading the topic was the question which war, because lately wars emerge like parasites everywhere. There is this omniscient war against terror, which knows no countries, no engagements, but only tragic events like 9/11 or the Madrid bombing.
Then there are the two representative wars in Afghanistan and Iraq (Yes, those are still wars or armed conflicts, since the objectives to accomplish victory are not met) and genocidal slaughter in Kosovo and the constant warfare in the middle of Africa.
I don't want to comment on the buzzphrase 'War on Terror' which is nothing more than a construct by some hawks in the United States Government, but rather on the actual situation in Afghanistan.

A lot has changed since the Taliban regime has been defeated. The capital of Afghanistan is the Mekka of democracy in Afghanistan, most unfortunate that Mr. Kursai is not an democratically elected Leader. Mr. Kursai, however, is confined to the capital, because in the other parts of the country, warlords harvest drugs and keep a tight reign over their regions. Some warfare defines the borders of each warlord's conclave and the only export the Afghans have is their drug traffic.
In this glorious environment, the German chancellor has sent his troops to watch over the situation. The problem is that the Bundeswehr is restricted to a certain area 'Kundus' and that it might not interfere with local administration, in other words the drug traffic, because it is too dangerous.

Again the U.S. army has started a new attack on the Ansar el Islam in the noman's land between Parkistan and Afghanistan, which will as it stands today, fail again, because the clans in the high land are refusing to take part in the US crusade.
The Parkistani government on the other side, half-heartedly supports the attempt with their troops, but, how most unfortunate, they are already stopped by terrorist groups and can't advance any further.
What glorious partners did the United States of America gather to support their war....

I have no answers to the miserable state of Afghanistan and I believe that there is no paper-solution to this. Instead individuals have to decide from case to case what to do and therefore a more liberal approach should be tried rather than controlling everything.

As an Atheist, I have no answers, only questions and they will be asked in regard to the Afghan war.

Perhaps I will continue this tomorrow, when I found my notes about the bellum justum.

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