The Afghanistan Rethink

Lately there have been lengthy discussions comparing Afghanistan with Vietnam without any meaningful conclusions or suggestions. The most recent one is an article (See the link below) by Frank Rich in New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/opinion/27rich.html?ref=opinion

What is forgotten in this comparison is that North Vietnam had not attacked America while Al Qaeda has. Also North Vietnam’s goal was to unify Vietnam albeit under their communist rule.

Taliban, Al Qaeda and the Islamic fundamentalists have same global agenda and want to establish their brand of Islamic Caliphate to rule the world. What is happening is not new. It is a continuation of the relentless execution of a plan which has been going on for over past one thousand years. Just look at the history of the Persian and Byzantine Empires. The Islamic fundamentalists know that the secular democracies are weak hearted and divided and will fall sooner and later. They will never give up unless they are totally eliminated.

Unfortunately Obama’s rethinking has so far has sent a message of confusion, hesitation and weakness to the world in general and Taliban and Al Qaeda in particular. No wonder Talban have increased their attacks in Afghanistan recently.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/24/world/asia/24military.html?hp

Let us not forget that if America loses in Afghanistan then Taliban and the Islamic fundamentalists will also take over Pakistan, an unstable nuclear state, in the next few years. This will create a very dangerous situation to United States and the secular world. The stakes in Afghanistan are much higher than they ever were in Vietnam. The secularists need to decide whether to face up this challenge now or meet the fate of Persian and Byzantine Empires.