by Tom Friedman is ready to give up on Afghanistan:
It is crunch time on Afghanistan, and we do not have the Afghan partners, the NATO allies, the domestic support, the financial resources or the national interests to justify an enlarged and prolonged nation-building effort in Afghanistan.
Is the bottom line, that there’s nothing for America to gain in Afghanistan, and so our exit strategy is both inevitable and pragmatic?
Add to that the fact that Islamic radicals need, if not deserve, a place they can call home this side of Paradise and it seems as though the way forward is clear.
Saigon, 1975, anyone?
I would hate to be a normal, law-abiding citizen in Afghanistan and read the NY Times. This is particularly true for women, government officials, Christians or other non-Muslims, business owners, people of above average intelligence, or simply those with the humble aspiration of being left alone to live their lives free from the Draconian thuggery of the Taliban’s ungodly theocracy.
