Time Says No Win in Afghanistan without Jobs

 "All that we have to do is to send two mujahedeen to the furthest point east to raise a piece of cloth on which is written al Qaeda, in order to make generals race there to cause America to suffer human, economic and political losses without their achieving anything of note,"

The surge in itself may not be fatal.  It is not the number of soldiers in the mission, but what that mission consists of. Chase "Taliban" only as far as necessary to protect populations and work crews, and hand out jobs and money.

Changes in tune like the Time article do not just happen.  The credit goes to activists who quietly forward and fax articles and arguments to congressmen, to the White House, to newspapers, to the media.  They may not talk about it or write diaries or make comments in blogs, but they do the work.  You are succeeding.  George Patton said the greatest endeavor of man is war.  This is wrong.  The greatest endeavor is to stop wars.

Somewhere, a wheel was turned, and the 20,000-ton ship-of-state is now showing that turn.  Somewhere, a soldier high over the Atlantic headed for ultimate destination Baghram is reading Time Magazine, and hoping his exalted elders are doing something more than cheerleading as they send him into a meat grinder.  Hoping his government has done its damned best to make men down there decide not to shoot at him, or plant one of those dreaded IEDs.  The one that will kill me, or worse.

There are already a number of cash-for-work pilot programs in Afghanistan, in Jawzjan Province, Uruzgan, and Balkh Province, run by Action Aid, Mercy Corps, and USAID, respectively.  The USAID project involves the clearing of springs and removal of silt which clogs irrigation ditches.

Afghanistan, the last place empires test their might.  Perhaps hardest to believe is that Time Magazine's path is cheaper.  I have heard the argument made, yes, despicable, that winning it this way is far too expensive, better to go in and get a bunch of people killed, including ours, and get it over with.  That is stupidity on top of ignorance on top of callousness.  This is when I start talking about a universal draft.

The cost of military operations in Afghanistan?  Going on $30 billion a year.  The cost of 500,000 day-labor jobs there for a year?  $4 billion. To not create jobs in Afghanistan is penny-wise and pound foolish.  By short-circuiting this quagmire, we'll be saving billions that we're going to need to create our own jobs.

"How Not to Lose in Afghanistan"

Please circulate and forward this to your congressmember and the White House.  The Netroots have power!

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