A very close acquaintance linked me to an editorial by Al Neuharth in Friday's
USA Today ("
Dollars and sense of 10 Afghan years") because he knows some of my thoughts on our adventure in Afghanistan and Neuharth seems to have expressed them for me. I agree. For example, Neuharth posits
the hopelessness of trying nation-building in Afghanistan. Three countries have tried, with these results:
- The British tried it three times — from 1839-42, 1878-80 and in 1919. They failed each time and lost 28,000 troops.
- Russia (then USSR) tried it for 10 years (1979-89) and failed, losing 14,000 troops.
- Our 10-year misadventure in Afghanistan has taken the lives of 1,795 of our military men and women.
In addition to the sad loss of lives, Afghanistan has cost us more than $443 billion.
My acquaintance was dejected from having recently heard that his wife's niece's husband's second son is eagerly about to head for Afghanistan as a U.S. Marine. "That misplaced eagerness just broke my heart."
