Paying Off the Taliban

Telegraph.co.uk published an article that discusses how NATO is going to pay the Taliban millions of dollars for some reason.  The logic behind this move has so far eluded my feeble grasp.  Call me crazy, but I thought that when you're having a war with someone, you weren't supposed to give them millions of dollars.

I've been having trouble following these wars ever since 9/11.  Some Saudis hijack American planes and fly them into various buildings, killing thousands of innocent, unarmed civilians.  This is certainly a cause for war.  In response to this atrocity committed by Saudis, we attack Afghanistan and Iraq, apparently on the theory that one Arab looks much like another; and even though Iraq is not an Arab country, it will do in a pinch.  And it has lots of oil.  Somehow the fact that it was Saudis who committed this crime was lost on our administration.  No surprises there, considering who was running the show at the time.

OK, so we've been having our wars, happily making billions of dollars for Cheney's cronies and various other Republicans.  A small price to pay to keep our economy healthy.  But for some reason, now we want to pay the Taliban.  I suppose that, since we created the Taliban, we may have some sort of paternal feelings towards them.  Unfortunately, these feelings have not been reciprocated.  Back in the old days we gave them Stingers and other weapons.  The ingrates are now shooting down our aircraft and killing our soldiers with those same weapons.  And now we want to give those same people money.

Here's a news flash, in case someone missed it.  If you're nice to someone, and they try to kill you, chances are that being nice to them again isn't going to make them like you.  Especially after you've spent several years killing their relatives and friends.  That tends to make people a wee bit testy.

This is like the schoolyard bully beating up some weak kid.  Then, after pounding the kid for a while, the bully offers him his own lunch money.

I am reminded of an old movie called "The Mouse That Roared".  A tiny country declares war on the US, hoping to lose and be given all sorts of financial aid.  Except in this case, we're the ones who declared war.  Go figure.

My guess is that by giving money to the Taliban, we're hoping to get them to stop kicking our asses over there.  Then we can leave.  We're certainly not going to win that war, because there's no one to surrender to us.  Afghanistan is mostly God-forsaken rock, with a bunch of warring tribes who have been living almost the same way for thousands of years.  Recently they've acquired munitions, but other than that their way of life hasn't changed much.  No one's in charge; no one can surrender.

If you want to get out of Afghanistan, then just leave.  Go home.  You'll accomplish exactly the same thing as paying the Taliban, but it will be way cheaper.  No one is going to follow us out of there, chase us home.  It's a bunch of guys with Kalashnikovs and maybe a broken down vehicle; probably not even that.

Instead of paying the Taliban, how about using the money to take care of the veterans who have been damaged by the war, physically or mentally wounded?  We promised to take care of them when they signed up; but we've reneged on our promises.  Shame on us.

So get the hell out of Afghanistan, and leave the tribes to themselves.  Use the money to help heal our soldiers.  And next time, learn from history before jumping into a stupid, endless war.