There's a bit of a donnybrook going on between our own Michael Crowley and far from our own Ezra Klein
over the wisdom of an expanded American effort in Afghanistan. That
is, an expanded American war in the West Asian country whose history has
been written in blood. Yes, as far back as the Romans and the
Mongolian hordes.
Now, neither of the journalistic combatants are hawks. And both
have taken the lesson that we cannot win in Afghanistan from Iraq. I happen to think that we, more or less, have won in Mesopotamia and will
end up withdrawing most of our forces in due course but when
circumstances permit. Will there be a long American presence in the
country? Yes. Still, I'm antsy about America fighting
Karzai's war.
I know that it is official Democratic dogma that Afghanistan must be won,
by hook or by crook. It is Obama's dogma, too, and presumably the
Democrats felt they had to follow his lead lest the party be seen as
wimps. I worried about this during the campaign and I worry about
this now. There is now no necessity to one-up the
Republicans.
In any case, I did read an authoritative piece on Afghanistan in the
Times op-ed page of November 22. It was written by a young
intellectual who has experience in the field. Rory Stewart has
written two books, The Places In Between and The Prince of the
Marshes. The second is about Iraq; the first is about his
walking in solitude across Afghanistan, India, Pakistan and
Nepal. Stewart has lived in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Vietnam and
Scotland and served in several war theatres with British forces.
Tutor to Prince Harry and Prince William, he also served in Bosnia,
Montenegro and as (what one might have been termed in the old days)
British regent in southern Iraq. Stewart reminds me of one of the
great English travelers and brigadier to Orde Wingate, Wilfred
Thesiger. If you don't know him, even from his books and articles,
it's your great loss.
In the New York Times, then, Stewart argues the practical impediments to
war in Afghanistan and the inordinate psychological distance between the
enemies. This is written by a person who clearly admires the
Afghanis and must be reluctant to leave their fate to the Taliban. I suspect that Obama won't have time to read this short piece. But
he, Hillary Clinton, Robert Gates and others should.
Starting in February, Stewart will follow in the tradition of Michael
Ignatieff, who has now won the
leadership of the Canadian Liberal Party, and Samantha Power, as director of Harvard's Carr Center for Human
Rights.