The AP says today that Senator John McCain called for permanent US bases in Afghanistan, “to safeguard American security interests.”
I hope he was misquoted, because that’s just absolutely nuts. Certainly troops are needed in Afghanistan at present, and for several years, to help prepare the Karzai government to stand on its own and to chase whatever’s left of Al Qaeda, but a permanent presence ? Absolute madness.
Afghanistan is one of the most forbidding, intrinsically valueless pieces of real-estate on the planet, in the back-yards of the Russians, the Chinese and the Persians (not to mention the Indians and the Pakistanis), all of whom consider the place in their own spheres of influence. The place is populated by some of the most xenophobic people on Earth. We have things to do there – but not for too long, and then we need to go home. Senator McCain needs drug testing immediately.
I hope he was misquoted, because that’s just absolutely nuts. Certainly troops are needed in Afghanistan at present, and for several years, to help prepare the Karzai government to stand on its own and to chase whatever’s left of Al Qaeda, but a permanent presence ? Absolute madness.
Afghanistan is one of the most forbidding, intrinsically valueless pieces of real-estate on the planet, in the back-yards of the Russians, the Chinese and the Persians (not to mention the Indians and the Pakistanis), all of whom consider the place in their own spheres of influence. The place is populated by some of the most xenophobic people on Earth. We have things to do there – but not for too long, and then we need to go home. Senator McCain needs drug testing immediately.
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