We Do Have an Obligation to Afghanistan

[mystieus]

Run time: 00:50 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wSMQr2tL4U   Posted on YouTube: October 27, 2009 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: October 28, 2009 By DU Member: mystieus Views on DU: 575

 
Yifat Susskind of MADRE makes the argument that the U.S. does owe Afghanistan support and aid--but that it should be humanitarian, not military.

[proud patriot]

1. as a woman I really feel obligated to the girls and woman

:-)and to anyone who likes to fly kites and sing songs .

[redsovin]

2. owe Afghanis

it was the abandonment of Afghanistan after the withdrawl of
the USSR that put the taliban in charge  we have to help them
rebuild as a sane civil society or the taliban will return and
start the religious intolerance and persecution all over again

[taggline]

6. "Afghani " is the monetary unit of Afghanistan

The folk are Afghans...I thought the reverse, as well...until I was corrected. :)

[Ozymanithrax]

3. Simply giving them humanitarian aid will not provide a stable government...

Removing NATO (that be us and friends) would open the door for the Taliban to walk back in and lead to the murder of anyone who worked with NATO troops.

Is it OK to let these people and their families be murdered?

[chadmak09]

4. you are right.

We have to use what little resources we have left to support afganistan.
They deserve our hard earned dollars.

Heck, I mean its not like we are having financial difficultys right now or Americans are dying everyday from lack of healthcare or anything like that.
We are doing great as a nation right now so we should definitly focus on fixing other countries. We are so great at that you know.

[Ozymanithrax]

8. Then it appears you do feel it is OK to allow those people to be murdered

to make life better here.

After US efforts drove out the Soviets, we ignored AFghanistan. It brought us 9/11.

I'm not saying there should be no idea of the endgame. Obama needs to define the mission and set and end to it.

But, to paraphrase Powell, we broke it and now we own it. Until we can fix it in some way we need to pay the price.

[yellowwood]

5. Who is "We?"

When people jump in to say that "we" owe military help to someone, I always wonder who "we" is. Which brother/sister/child/parent is it? Or one's self?
And is that "help" always so good? Don't you remember that we were told that we must "help" the Iraqis destroy the dictatorship of Saddaam? Who would want to live in Iraq now? And what about the thousands who have died with our "help?"
Most often people who want to "help" mean that they would be willing to sacrifice someone else's kid. But, hey, the kid's parents will get a medal to remember him/her.

[taggline]

7. BINGO

As the poet wrote..."...armchair warriors often fail, and we've been poisoned by these fairy-tales..." I have 6 kids...none of whom I will send into Viet-ghanistan. We fucked up, yeah...but that was then...and this is a WHOLE new ball game. Call Charlie Wilson and see what HE would do.