U.S. gives up the ghost of any meaningful and justifiable involvement in Afghanistan

A headline in the January 23 New York Times says:

Gates Says Taliban Must Take Legitimate Afghan Role

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—The United States recognizes that the Taliban are now part of the political fabric of Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said here on Friday, but the group must be prepared to play a legitimate role before it can reconcile with the Afghan government.

Well, shouldn’t this be the final deal killer? Our forces invaded the country to destroy al Qaeda and drive from power their hosts and allies the Taliban regime, the most extreme and tyrannical Muslim regime on earth. And now we—the spreaders of democracy—are the facilitators of a process which includes making the Taliban a part of the government, which we will do by coaxing, cajoling, urging, and begging them to become more moderate—by demanding, pleading, suggesting, and arguing that they become more moderate. See Robert Gates’s various statements in the article. It’s all a despicable show, to avoid admitting (a) that we lack the will or capacity to defeat the Taliban, and (b) that the Taliban are enemies of, and will destroy if they have the opportunity, everything we believe in.

We should get out of the internal affairs of Afghanistan, get out of the internal affairs of Iraq, and declare that our goal is not to democratize or modernize or moderate Islam, but to protect ourselves from Islam, which we will do by initiating an out-migration of Muslims from the West, and by quarantining Muslims in their historic lands, Our only involvement in the internal affairs of Muslim Mideast societies should be to kill regimes and groups that threaten us. As I’ve been saying since the early Oughts, a three week invasion of Afghanistan once every seven years, would be infinitely less costly than permanent occupation and involvement in the Muslims’ society, where WE DO NOT BELONG, just as THEY DO NOT BELONG in our society.

January 26

James N. writes:

You are of course right that we don’t belong in Afghanistan, at least not as overlords of their customs and practices.

A useful line to pursue with liberals is the “does Japan have the right to remain Japanese? India, Hindu? Nigeria (or South Africa) black?

Most liberals heartily endorse the rights of blacks to black land, Asians to Asian land, Buddhists to Ceylon, Muslims to Pakistan, etc.

But they choke on the right of whites to white land, or Christians to Christendom. And that exception to their general endorsement of racial, ethnic, and religious exclusivity, they cannot explain. Most of them literally can’t even think about it.

LA replies:

I underscore James N.’s point.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at January 25, 2010 02:20 PM | Send