For some time now attention has been focussed on Israel’s (and its lobbyists’) attempts to involve the US in a war with Iran. With this issue put on the back burner for a while, it is perhaps time to turn back to the war the US is actually fighting ─ its longest ever ─ in Afghanistan. I would suggest that there is no better way of doing that than reading a brilliant article by Ann Jones that has just been published.
Ann Jones is a journalist and author who writes mostly about women’s and children’s issues. In that behalf she has travelled extensively in Afghanistan, and developed a remarkable understanding of the country and its people. From that perspective she has taken a penetrating look at the current state of the US enterprise in that country, and the direction in which it is heading.
What she sees is a looming train wreck. A wreck caused not by the Taliban insurgency, but by the fatal flaw underlying the US plan to conclude the war (Plan A she calls it, highlighting the fact that there is no Plan B!). A plan that betrays a remarkable lack of understanding of the country and people where the US has been fighting for over 10 years.
I would highly recommend Ann Jones’s article. She has got it exactly right!
