Clarion Content

There is an alternate endgame in Afghanistan. Self-determination if possible, partition if necessary. The Clarion Content has long argued that the decisions made by British mapmakers of the 19th century that birthed the conceit of Afghanistan do not a nation make. They drew lines on a map, that does not make it so on the ground.

America was founded on this very principle and hewed to it until at least the Monroe Doctrine. Since then things have gotten more colonialist and complicated from the Philippines to Cuba to Nicaragua to Panama to Vietnam. But America does not have to stick it out in an internecine neo-colonialist civil war, and, arguably by providing more cash via aid, and more weaponry, we inherently exacerbate the problem rather than help provide the solution.

America's policymakers who concluded a draw in Korea was preferable to the endless drain on resources of on-going war would recommend the same in Afghanistan. It is difficult to imagine how one would partition Afghanistan. In Iraq division is easier to see, if equally problematic to implement. But allowing these countries to make their own decisions is how facilitate a different end game in Afghanistan and Iraq.

One down, one to go?

Labels: Central Asia, Middle East, war