Taking the camel to Kandahar!

Fallujah is located in Iraq.  Fallujah is where American Contractors were hanged upside down on a bridge.  Fallujah is where those bodies were dragged through the streets with everything inhumanly possible done  to them.  Fallujah was the place that the Marines and other fighting forces faced down Saddam’s remnants of his Pretorian Sunni Guard and others.  The battles raged  on until all of the civilian population moved out, ran away or hid underground.  The roads were closed and the suicide bomb cars lined up to meet American soliders at check points entering the city.  Lots of Iraqis died.  Many American soliders died.

Fast forward to another country…..Afghanistan!  Look at  IEDs going off all over the place!  There is no Saddam Pretorian Guard there.  There is no Sunni or Shite class warfare.  There are tribes, Taliban and a unity of  Poppy Growers.   They have thousands of years of history since Alexander that have created a tribal society with various power centers, organized crime and Al-Qaeda funding mechanisms!  This is an old society that has operated out of a shoe box for centuries!  They don’t want HD, Blue Ray or an IPOD’s unless they blow something up when they want it to.  Today, they have cheap computers, Chinese consultants, Indian/Pakistani programmers but still don’t have 7-11’s!

They have relatives however!  Lot’s of uncles, brothers and nephews that live in the mountains along the border of Pakistan.  The border is fluid, the trails are narrow and only allow travel on foot or by camel and donkey.  They carry their computers, IED bomb building equipment and operate at less than $2 dollars a day.  They sleep in caves, tents and other people’s homes.  They knock on your door and say: “Hi, I’m with the Taliban!  We need to stay with you a few days!”  They build a few bombs….ask their hosts to go with them to bury those bombs on various roadsides.  They want their wives, daughters and children to go with them…..so in the event that they are spotted by a US Predator aircraft… civilians  are going to die too!  Once they run out of bomb building materials they get back on their donkey or camel and return to Pakistan ….to reload!

The tribes in Afghanistan belong to a Union.  It is called “The Poppy Farm Growers Union!”  They could care less who is in charge in Kandahar.  They could care less who else belongs to their Union.  They have just one rule:  Honor among thieves!  They don’t want their women educated, they don’t want to be questioned by anyone.  The are Native Afghanistanis!  They could care less that Al-Qaeda run around in dessert camps….as long as they are left alone.  They could care less that “the Taliban” pretend they are Sommalis and run around taking over little towns and cities around the countryside – as long as they are left alone.  But hey, they have guns!  They have Organized Crime backing them up!  They even have their Growers Union……for mutual aid ….. in the event some Tribal Chief gets too big for their britches and wants more of the Poppy crop revenue.

They have a stable society that has endured Alexander, the Soviets, the Taliban, the Al-Qaeda and the US Military!  They have endured incursions from the Uzbeks and five other border states.  Hey, as long as they have their donkeys and camels……..they have a living.  As long as they have their Poppy revenue who cares who runs the so-called government.  They can pay anyone off.

The US needs to leave Afghanistan.  We need to take up residence in the Pakistani border area.  We need to occupy or have our troops located in the various states around Afghanistan – not Kandahar…..not anywhere in that country!  When Taliban, Criminal Tribes, Al-Qaeda or insurrection raises its ugly head in Afghanistan…..we need to strike….strike hard as we did in Fallujah!  We need to send a Sicilian message…..that Mulah Omar can sleep with the fishes! 

Let us leave now!  Make those parachute drops of arms, food and troops when needed.  Create an Afghan Security force to guard Kandahar……maybe a troop strength of 50,000.  Let us follow the English example of occupying enclaves and no more!  Leave three Special Forces guys with a cell phone in Kandahar.  If they need air support…..call it in.  If they need 10,000 troops…call it in.  If they need ice cream…….call it in.  Didn’t they ever hear those magic words during the 1880’s in the United States:  “Here comes the Cavalry!”

In the meantime, we can bring the rest of our troops home.  We can rest them and our equipment.  We can claim victory in Afghanistan and Iraq.  We can make our world safer……we can drop Agent Orange on all those Poppy crops and have some fun doing it!  Enough is enough!  Bring everyone home….and don’t forget to turn out the lights – when we leave!