From our partners at The Agonist
. . . two very important posts over at Registan everyone should read.
Translated from obnoxious mil-speak, she is describing the village being intimidated by the Taliban, who are chased away by soldiers, then “cleared” by special forces, and leveled by massive aerial bombardment, apparently with no casualties. Nowhere in this account is there a sense that the villagers felt any ill-will toward the Americans beforehand—rather, Broadwell explicitly describes the village as being victimized by the Taliban first, then being completely obliterated by the Americans. In other words, rather than actually clearing the village—not just chasing away the Taliban but cleaning up the bombs and munitions left over—the soldiers got lazy and decided to destroy the entire settlement
That’s a lot of text to power through, and there’s a lot more on her page, but it brings to mind an important phenomenon that it worth exploring here. Namely, the assumption that our good intentions are apparent, and always welcomed, coupled with a gullibility of villagers saying nice things to the rich guys with guns.
Read them both and realize how much of a failure our policy in Afghanistan has become.
