Well, That Worked Out Amazingly Well, Now Didn't It?

War is always a failure, but I did think the U.S. was reasonably warranted to go into Afghanistan and take out the Taliban, first for the way that they were oppressing women and, secondly, for harboring bin Laden after he took credit for the attacks on the U.S. on September 11, 2001. And I did think that the U.S. could have run a Marshall-Plan-type program that would have turned Afghanistan from a hell-hole into a modern democracy, although it would have taken quite a bit of money, time, and effort. To the extent that a functioning democracy in the Middle East would have inspired changes in neighboring countries (an always disputable proposition) there was no reason why Afghanistan, rather than the alread-secular Iraq, couldn't have served that purpose. And I do believe in Colin Powell's Pottery Barn rule: once we invaded, we were responsible for putting things back in better order than they were when we got there.

Which is why what the Bush junta has done -- or more precisely, not done-- in Afghanistan is so shockingly criminal. BBC reports that: The notes were left at night, pinned to trees outside the school - they were addressed to the head teacher. "We know who you are," they said. "We know you are involved in girls' education. Unless you stop we will kill your daughters and we will kill your family." The principal had received many of these warnings, but it didn't stop him keeping the school open. He pinned up his reply on the same trees: "Do whatever you have to do and we will do what we have to do," it read.
A few days later the school was hit by three rockets, and explosives were planted around the outside of the building. This happened a few weeks ago - in Wardak, a province neighbouring Kabul. And in the south of the country the situation is even worse."

Educating girls will now get you killed in American-occupied Afghanistan. I remember just before we invaded, they paraded Laura Bush out to decry something she'd never bothered to decry before: the Taliban's treatment of women. Wonder why Pickles is so silent now???