Frank's Musings

Both progressives and Republicans have twisted the original objective of the American invasion of Afghanistan into the conversion of the Afghan political system into a liberal democracy.  America proudly sings that it is “the land of the free;” but some would distort its raison-d’etre into “make every land free.”

Republicans are using their characterization to be able to claim a Democratic failure during its election campaign in 2022.  Extreme progressives have let their abandonment of moderation cloud their definition of America’s appropriate foreign policy aim.  That makes it easy for Republicans to confuse voters by arguing that extreme progressives rule the Democratic party.

The Biden decision to end the U.S. war in Afghanistan shows a refusal to make America’s international goal the creation of other societies like itself.  There are enough inequalities at home for him to correct in fulfillment of a progressive agenda without being distracted by foolhardy ambitions abroad.

How do you defeat an enemy whose power does not rely on physical assets—land, enterprises, hardware, armies? They build their dominion by wielding propaganda and causing fear.   Their only weapon is terror.  However, their ideas cannot exist without living brains to hold them. Terrorism is self-defeating for an intellectual movement like the Islamic State.  It must also be for the Taliban

Is a state conceived and run by religious principals anything but a theocracy like iran or the Vatican?  Is that what Afghanistan has become?  The Taliban and ISIS are both Sunni Moslems, and both apparently have territorial ambitions.  Apparently, they are at odds in Afghanistan.  Their main difference seems to be that one is in control of the country and the other isn’t.  They are similar in their distrust of free elections as the arbiter of their political fortunes; each of them relies on terrorism to oppose an adversary’s incumbency. 

Question is: Will ISIS use terror against the Taliban in Afghanistan?   The suicide bomb attack on 26 August 2021 may not have had any objective beyond self assertion.  Its primary result is to emphasize the weakness of any defense against terrorism, whether by the Taliban or by its ersatz ally, the U.S.  The sooner America exits Afghanistan and leaves these two spiritual enemies to fight it out among themselves, the better.

Without apologizing for the disorganized way in which the U.S. has managed its exit from its military intervention in Afghanistan, you must admit that its original objectives there have long been achieved.  Let us hope the Taliban has learned it can’t shelter a terrorist camp without reopening the War. 

What’s happened in Afghanistan is the collapse of a phony government that U.S. leaders constructed and imposed on a foreign territory known as the graveyard of empires. It had become a terrorist refuge.  It is also an ungovernable crossroads of a dozen tribes from neighboring homelands.  As soon as the latest of those empires, America, folded its tents and left, most of its occupants realized they were happier when they could live as they always have—loose and free. They are the ultimate libertarians. 

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was forced to resign by the confluence of several embarrassing factors.  Probably the most important was his loneliness since his domestic partnership breakup.  Because of his impatient style, his search for companionship was long and unfulfilled.  Finally, he made clumsy efforts to invite romantic responses from appealing women.  In this “me-too” era, those women felt justified in publicizing their encounters with a vulnerable suiter.   This probably was not the first time any of those eleven women had been propositioned by their bosses, workmates, or casual friends; but the time was ripe for their complaints and the perpetrator was prominent.

Governor Cuomo certainly has admirable anti-misogynist credits—advocacy of women’s rights policies and regulations, three accomplished daughters, a female Lieutenant Governor and successor, to name a few. Nevertheless, as he has admitted, he didn’t realize at the time or perhaps ever thought that his own behavior could possibly be construed to imply that he abused his own power to intimidate other people, particularly employees of the opposite gender. 

His ego won’t let him acknowledge his clumsiness.  Still, our best leaders usually have high self-esteem.  Andrew Cuomo’s biggest shortcoming has been his inability to apply his professed principles personally.  That’s not an impeachable offense and surely not criminal.  But it finally caught up with him and his political career is over. 

Senator Tim Kaine said it best:  The U.S. failed to create a Western society in Afghanistan since 9/11 because we want something for the Afghans that the Afghans don’t want for themselves.  We’ve spent a lot of money and lost a lot of lives ridding the country of Al Qaeda and Bin Laden; but we haven’t installed a Western style democracy with Western values.  Against all our and our allies’ power, the Taliban is taking over Afghanistan’s order now that we are leaving.  

It is disappointing that a reasonable authority like Leon Panetta insists that the U.S. can’t risk allowing the Taliban to govern that sui-generis mountain territory whose people have succeeded in resisting foreign domination for millennia.    Some Afghans have taken advantage of modern telecommunications to adopt Western values on their own.  They have a right, because of American reliance on them to protect our national security, to emigrate from their immutable community to obtain admittance to our own country.  However, the U.S. would ignore the lesson of history at its own unlimited cost and risk if it tried to change the way life is lived in this crossroads between East and West, ground and sky, that will never evolve or be transformed into a haven for the human rights we hold dear. 

The federal government should guarantee bank loans that finance the rents landlords hsve missed collecting during he COVID’19 pandemic.  A minor addition to the rental rates payable by delinquent tenants could be enough to cover the interest and ease repayments on the loans.  Bank loans for rent due from employed tenants would be contingent on proof of adequate income.  A gradual assistance program will be needed o help those tenants who are unable to restore their incomes to pre-pandemic levels.  

Based on the Federal Reserve’s and the IMF’s expectations of a rapid economic recovery, central governments worldwide can reasonably undertake to smoothen the path for their publics’ readjustment to normalcy.  Certainly, there will be a cost to society for this unanticipated medical emergency.  However, we do have the tools to absorb it.  It may turn out to be only a warm=up for similar pandemics in the future; moreover, it will just as surely teach us valuable lessons for dealing with other inevitable crises, including climate change.