Somalian Blowback

The NY Times reported today that Somalia has been experiencing more violent turmoil as its Shabab militant group has continued the exponential harassment of local populations “to turn Somalia into a seventh-century-style Islamic state.”

What was extremely troubling, however, was “the American military providing intelligence and logistical support” for the Somali government. Although Shabab is working closely with Al Qaeda, America has yet to learn anything from blowback. Al Qaeda’s operations in Somalia are aimed to target the Somali government and have nothing to do with the security of the United States. Furthermore, Shabab and Al Qaeda’s strive to gain a foothold in Somalia are slowly failing, not because of American interventionism, but because of what the NY Times reported to be the populace “now whispering valuable secrets about the Shaba’s movements into the ears of government soldiers.” Additionally, “defectors are leaving the Shabab in droves,” while the “young men joined the local militia” to fend off Shabab fighters. 

Evidently, Somalia is able to fend for itself.

Hide and Go Seek

The Taliban are hiding pretty darn well in Baluchistan province in Pakistan. So well, in fact, that they're not even there.

"Interviews with residents and officials in and around Quetta, a dusty frontier city of 1.2 million, reveal widespread skepticism that Pakistan's vast Baluchistan province harbors Afghan Taliban commander Mullah Omar, his aides or their foot soldiers.

It's a disconnect that does not bode well for Washington-Islamabad relations — and America's already tattered reputation among Pakistanis — as Baluchistan grows in strategic importance for the United States."

It looks like the US isn't all that great at finding things, let alone looking in the right places. After all, who could forget those pesky WMD's? (Actually, one was recently found by Iraqi prison guards. Turns out, it wasn't even a warhead.)

Make the Right Choice, Mr. President

 As more and more young Americans are killed in Afghanistan each and every day, President Obama faces a decision that could decide his presidency: to stay or not to stay. American soldiers are presented with the enormous, probably impossible task of eradicating the Taliban and Al Qaeda, and building a nation of literal sticks and stones in to a “stable democracy.” If President Obama does choose to stay, he seriously needs to consider how he is going to justify such a war.

The morality of this war has hardly been talked about by anyone. Discussion of this war is largely limited to tactics and numbers with little, if any, talk about the skewed moral compass this war is being fought with. Just at cursory glance at the war thus far reveals something a bit distressing. While this may be something hard to comprehend for the many who believe that the US has done no harm, America does in fact kill civilians. And lots of them. The debate over whether these attacks are intentional or unintentional is besides the point: thousands of Afghan civilians have died as a result of the war, many more than 9/11, the justification for entering the war in the first place. Disproportionate force has been used and is consequentially immoral, all American Exceptionalism aside. Speaking of exceptional, does this apply to our morals or just our military?

Another War?

It appears as though the war in Afghanistan will now be spilling over into Pakistan. This is very disheartening since 59% of Pakistanis consider the US their greatest threat. The supposed justification for this terrible move is to eliminate Al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Pakistan. As we are seeing right now, it is nearly impossible to eradicate these two groups. They are ingrained in the tribal structure of the region and "eradicating" would mean the genocide of a sizable portion of Afghanistan's Pashtun tribe. This would only fuel hatred towards the US and serve as a rallying cry for the two groups.  

Pakistan is large enough to take care of itself. The US is now giving them $1.5 billion in aid despite being considered its biggest threat. It would greatly help the US to cut off aid to India and Pakistan (and all other countries, for that matter) in order to eliminate this conflict of interest. More money and more blood are not remedies for this situation. Withdrawal and minding our own business are. 

Read more here.