Dear Editor,
This has reference to “US State Dep’t personnel have become amateurish in approach to complex international problems: by Derrick Arjune (SN Aug 23). As soon as the US withdrew from Afghanistan, the regime collapsed. That should have been expected. A somewhat similar situation was played out in Iraq where utter chaos has been the manifestation post withdrawal of US troops. In 1990, the US invaded Iraq to remove Iraq forces from Kuwait and quickly withdrew after mission achieved. That was a success.
With regards to Afghanistan, the invasion was to remove a terror threat that not only posed a danger to the US but the globe as well. But US policymakers decided they would stay on and pursue nation building and democracy. The twenty years experiment to institutionalize democracy and pursue nation building in Afghanistan has failed, and it has largely failed in Iraq. In the case of Afghanistan and Iraq, the US (and the West) sought to impose democracy thinking the locals would appreciate it because it is the best form of government. The US and the West apparently did not understand the fractured nature of the country in which each tribe and geographic unit that it occupies wants to be governed by their own. So while promoting democracy in Middle East and Afghanistan was/is morally right, clearly it has not worked. The US will have to look to encourage another form of government. Perhaps it should consider a system that would give each group autonomy without carving out new independent states.
Sincerely,
Vishnu Bisram
