-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
As the United States draws down its military presence in Afghanistan, the Afghan government of Hamid Karzai has discovered yet another gimmick to extort money from the Americans. Karzai is demanding that the US pay $1000 for each shipping container that leaves the country. According to Afghan customs officials, the US military has racked up a total of $70 million in fines. The Kabul government has blocked inbound shipments of fuel and equipment in order to extort US compliance. If forced to ship by air, the additional costs could balloon to billions of dollars.
It is past time for the US to stop kowtowing to Karzai’s corruption. The custom “duties” can easily be subtracted from the bags of cash the CIA delivers to Karzai.
Karzai’s corruption is fast coming to an end. An immediate and permanent withdrawal of US military forces from Kabul would help focus Karzai’s attention on his own survival. Without US military protection, Karzai wouldn’t last a year.
Any idea that the US will leave behind a Afghan security force and army that will thwart the Taliban is a fantasy to soothe US political opinion. The Taliban are vicious immoral thugs whose religion allows them to morally justify their actions. That the Afghanistan people will be brutalized by the inevitable Taliban theocracy is a certainty. However abhorrent, it is up to the Afghans to remedy that situation. The US does not have the resources to save Muslims from Islam. The US can show the way by our exemplification of the rights of conscience found in our secular society.
In Syria, Turkey, and, until the recent coup, Egypt, movements promoting the intermingling of religion and state seem to be spreading. The US cannot afford, financially or ethically, to support these movements. The principles of secularism, separation of religion and state, and individuality free from religious prescription, need to be articulated persuasively. Just as Christians claim a right to be free from Islamic prescriptions, in a secular society, any individual can claim a right to be free from any religious prescriptions.
James Madison realized the essentiality of church/state separation when he wrote:
The members of a Govt as such can in no sense, be regarded as possessing an advisory trust from their Constituents in their religious capacities.
In his pinnacle work, Age of Reason, Thomas Paine wrote:
All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.
supersonic747, could you possibly be any more off topic with your repeated threadjacking?
BREAKING NEWS:
Helen Thomas died this morning at the age of 92. Not a lot of details yet, but story at the link:
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/pioneering-journalist-helen-thomas-dies-92-19722427
Tell them to bring it.The paperwork is being posted daily.Complicity with oath violators while taking the public’s welfare can not result in favorable reviews for you or them.Trayvon.Edward Snowden.You guys are in the same league as Bin Laden.Terminate that. Black Louisiana Magic!
I can’t tell if it’s a cape or a blanket being used like a cape.
It’s a bold fashion statement for sure.
nick,
A cape! … priceless! lol
Gosh, maybe we’ll have better luck if we invade Syria on our way out. Where are John and Lindsey… … …
Karzai learned from the best, Dick Cheney! I would rather they blew each piece of material up than pay him another cent. No asylum for Karzai. No private contractors paid for by US for the protection Karzai and his family; let his people “protect” him!
OS, Your thoughts in the last paragraph are mine. I see a lot of Baby Doc in him.
From both a military and logistical standpoint, Karzai’s demands are unenforceable. There are many ways the US can counter this. First of all, if the US started shipping stuff out, who is going to stop them? The Afghan police we trained, or tried to train? I doubt the Taliban will help him stop convoys from leaving, because they want to see us go so badly. Also, factions of the Taliban are already fighting among themselves, each faction wanting to be positioned to take over the Karzai government once the US leaves. The only thing all these Taliban factions have in common, other than being fundamentalist Muslims, is they want the US out of their country.
Second, the US government could send the Karzai government a bill for “services rendered.”
Finally, we could bring the most expensive equipment out with a non-stop stream of heavy lifters such as the C-5 and C-17. That would be expensive, but probably worth it. Then blow up or burn what is left, including that ridiculous embassy we built.
Of course, there are “black ops” techniques no one will talk about, and the details of which we won’t/can’t go into in a public forum. Perhaps some little bird could whisper into his ear the magic words, “Operation Phoenix.” He might be reminded the Phoenix can arise at any time from its own ashes.
I have a suspicion that Karzai wants the money for himself, so he, his family, and his henchmen can flee the country to someplace where they can live in style and not worry about being shot or blown up. It is inevitable that he cannot hold onto power once the US is gone and he knows this.
The Democratic Party fears a RepubliCon assault which mirrors the Fifties. Then they were “soft on Communism” That was morphed into “soft on terrorists” after the Berlin Wall fell. What neither party understands is that radical Muslims are akin to the Nazi Party of 1933 and thereafter. This schmuck in Afghanistan is Morsi with a shaved head and he goes without the tent because of our aid. Cut off all aid to Pirate Territories. That is Verse One of the BarkinDog Doctrine.
your tax dollars at work
You can’t tell our enemies from our allies without waterboarding them, and if they won’t comply to that screw’em
Or it may be someone with a similar name if Nal is Kevin.
Kevin Drum writes for Mother Jones and before that The Washington Monthly
LOL nick.
Hopefully we’ve learned to never support the leader of a country who wears a cape.
they are nothings. not even worthy of capitals.
This as our cities begin to file bankruptcy.
The US will pay the fines when Afghanistan pays for the military equipment, training, infrastructure, and years of annual aid supplied by the American taxpayers. How about that.
The president’s memory must be weak, by the way:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/29/world/asia/cia-delivers-cash-to-afghan-leaders-office.html?pagewanted=all
And imagine if we funneled a decade of outrageous money into, I don’t know, a city like Detroit, whose very recent bankruptcy is incredibly shameful for our nation, and really should inspire our leaders to prioritize the direction of our increasing indebtedness. Nation-building at home should be more than a talking-point.
Even Bush could not get the disgruntled person to comply…… It’s all about money….. I’d say ship by air….. Or destroy what’s useful to them…. And leave the remains….. It’s time for America’s participation to end…… There and everywhere else…. We have school, parks, national treasures here that could use some infusion of cash…..
Thanks nal…. Hey who are the other folks on the credit line….