We should leave Afghanistan Immediately

For 13 years now we have been fighting the same fight over and over again without any discernable improvement despite hundreds of billions, and thousands of dead and wounded, in expense. The cycle is the same every year. The Spring Offensive of the Taliban brings in the recruits from the Pakistani Tribal Areas who slaughter a bunch of innocents and bunch of Afghan Police/Soldiers and then are themselves practically decimated in return. The next year, a fresh set of previously 17 year olds who are now 18 year olds floods across the border and the same pattern repeats itself. There is little doubt that the full weight of the US military is wrecking the battle formations of the Taliban, but, from their safe havens, they simply rebuild and send more formations the next year. Its not like its terribly expensive to find a bunch of AK-47's, and fertilizer and wood to make IED's with. We are not in a situation where military force can produce a tangible result. Even if we kill every member of the Taliban that sets foot in Afghanistan, the next year there will be more Taliban crossing the border. There is a perverse logic to the Pashtu and their code of Pashtunwali that intense poverty and unemployment are feeding into this vicious cycle. Every year, more young men come of age with no real prospects of employment or otherwise gainful means of production. http://www.rediff.com... What do you do with these mostly illiterate excesses of young men? If you are tribal leader, the last thing you want is a bunch of pissed off, unemployed young men sitting around waiting for an excuse to start fighting. It makes far more sense to send them off with the Taliban. If they do not come back, such is the will of Allah. If they do? They come back a proven warrior, a position of honor in Pashtunwali, and they have developed connections and prestige that the Tribe can exploit. There is an incentive to send as many, particularly ‘unable’, young men off to war. The more that return with honor, the stronger the tribe. And the undesirables? They tend to sort themselves out. http://nypost.com... What would you do with a man who was so stupid he would turn himself in to collect a reward? I will submit that this man being in such a position was no accident – with tribal leaders essentially hoping the Darwinian aspect of war would solve the problem for them. And it did. The horrific violence we visit upon the Taliban is not actually damaging them. It is perversely entrenching the very power base of the Taliban. The only way to stop it is to invade and pacify the tribal belt – that would require the invasion of Pakistan. Clearly that is not going to happen. If we are not willing to take the military action necessary to change the dynamic, then it makes no sense to pretend that the military needs to be engaged here. We can begin building the strategic outlook for this as well. Pakistan, under Zia Ul Hac, created a strategic vision in which, rightly or wrongly, Afghanistan is critical. Despite mounting evidence that the interference of Pakistan in Afghanistan has created problems for Pakistan rather than solved them, the dogmatic vision on Afghanistan continues. Our military actions have not changed this dogma. Pakistan is well aware that its northern border essentially bifurcates what is nominally Pashtunistan. With the rise of the Pakistani Taliban, there is little doubt that the young men currently being slaughtered in Afghanistan will simply be aimed south once the US leaves. In fact, there is mounting evidence that the central government we are establishing in Kabul is eyeing the same tactic in reverse. http://www.longwarjournal.org... We are on one side of blood feud in which the two sides will raid the tribal belt for Soldiers to inexhaustibly send against one another. We support one side, while all almost all logistical support flows through the other side who routinely uses it to exact leverage on a process that increasingly inimical to our desired end state in Afghanistan. No one is even talking about how to manage or shape this reality. We continue to send combatants and equipment for no discernable reason whatsoever. Even projecting enough force into the situation to be relevant is extraordinarily expensive in cost of both treasure and blood. What do we have to show for it? http://blog.foreignpolicy.com... A government rife with corruption and cronyism? A government unable to provide basic services to the vast majority of its citizens? A government distrusted by its own people and largely dependent upon the real or perceived threat of US military violence to stay in power? A government that is adversarial to our interests? Is there any point in spending billions of dollars more in delaying the rivalry that is coming? Make no bones about it, the regional players see the end game coming. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com... India wants to ensure that the tit for tat between Afghanistan and Pakistan continues as long as possible. That protects Kashmire from the same processes that wrecked havoc there prior to 9-11. The fighting keeps a Pakistan focused north, and away from the Line of Control where fighting erupts with regularity. If anyone in Washington grasps this realpolitik reality, they are staying mum on it in a case of abrogating national interest. The strategic effects for the US go well beyond the typical regional players. With Russia getting snitty over Ukraine, we must bear in mind that Russia is the only other logistical input aside from Pakistan into Afghanistan. The Russians clearly have no qualms about exercising that influence, knowing full well that cutting off that stream will had Pakistan virtual control of the situation – and we know Pakistan will use it. THis gives Russia, not us, tremendous strategic advantage. Additionally, Afghanistan continues to be a drain on military intellect and resources all precariously engaged with little to show from the expense. China acting out in the Pacific Rim is precisely because they recognize the how thinly spread our forces are, and for every Soldier actually engaged in Afghanistan, there are two more in training to replace the rotational units. It still requires the entire fleet of planes and ships to sustain the effort. Were we to withdraw from Afghanistan, we would instantly free up an incredible amount of military power. Not only that, but the other Nations at play would clearly see that we are capable of accurately gauging strategic realities and able to put reason before pride to achieve real strategic effect where it actually matters to our Nations bottom line.Wait Al Qaeda you say? That relationship has definitely soured and remains complicated at best. http://www.thenation.com...; In fact, the Taliban blame Al Qaeda for what happened after 9-11. Prior to that, the Taliban controlled 90% of Afganistan in a fulfillment of their messianic vision. Then, along came the B-52's. "After being ousted from power in 2001, he wrote, the Taliban "openly derided the Arabs of al Qaida and blamed them for the Taliban's misfortunes".http://www.commondreams.org...There is nothing to prevent us from again sending B52's to rain destruction on the Taliban. To be an insurgent force is one thing. To control and govern another, and wth the Taliban out of the proverbial shadows, they become vulnerable to our military advantages. The Taliban are not so stupid that they don't realize this. Al Qaeda being allowed to provolk that response again? Not likely for a group interested in controlling Afghanistan. Simply put, we are achieving nothing at great expense in Afghanistan. No ones son or daughter needs to die for the sake of vainglorious national pride. Its time to end the sunk cost fallacy of Afghanistan that is doing nothing but feeding off the orgy of money and bodies we have dumped into it.