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Response: Should we be in Afghanistan?

Having read Sebastian's seasoned response, I've had awhile to think of my own.
Unlike Sebastian, this war stuff is new to me. My resume reads less like a human rights campaign than it does a bookworm who happened to raise kids. Sure, I'm an Army wife now, but for 23 years I was just a regular civilian wife with absolutely no ties to the military, and any engagement with world events was entirely selective.

I think that's how most Americans live. We can turn off the tragedies, violence, inequities, murder and suffering at our choosing. We can spend more time thinking about Fair Trade and buying relatively green goods to make our houses more pleasant, than about infant mortality rates in the Sudan, or the selling of girls in Burma into prostitution rings in Thailand. There are people who don't even know about this stuff, and I can't blame them. It's heavy, and not everyone is equipped to deal with it emotionally or intellectually, or feel they're going to be able to make a difference. Truthfully, this is the stuff that can really make a person desperate, because if anything, Americans like to see themselves as problem solvers.

So a good many of these people do put their energy into other areas where tangible results can be seen: volunteering in their communities, giving to local charities, even being a good neighbor.
But I guess this is at the crux of this whole question. What the question "Should we be in Afghanistan?" really means is, "Will our presence make a difference?"

If you had asked me ten years ago, I would have said "no." I couldn't have listened to what Sebastian said about his earlier experience in Afghanistan, nor about what happened afterward. It might not have mattered because I had a very black/white, good/bad view of peace and war. Besides, I was busy.

Crank the clock forward. Time stops, my heart pounds, when the phone rings at 3 AM and it's a wrong number. Today, I say yes, we should be in Afghanistan. Maybe should have been there after the late Charlie Wilson did his gig. I have clarity now that my involvement isn't elective. A few years ago, my husband, at the ripe age of 52, was recruited into the military. They needed guys like him who have run the gamut of healthcare. From busy surgical practice in big hospitals in a major metropolis to the Army, where everything isn't necessarily bigger --it's just different. War pushes it to the extreme, a MASCAL event at an FST is L.A. County x200. A clinic in Afghanistan is East L.A. x 100, however, the patients don't threaten to sue and they are reverent of what a doctor can do for them.

So while I can't run through the politics, won't go into the intricacies of military strategy, I can --off the top of my head think of local Afghans whose lives have been saved by the ISAF medical teams. Each day, locals are brought in by the soldiers, or sometimes they just show up. Their needs run the gamut from burns, amputations made necessary from IEDs, or other injuries and illnesses. All would have a greatly diminished life, or be dead were it not for the consideration of the soldiers on the ground and the medical teams at the bases.

But this isn't the only story. Glance through the PRT-Kunar blog and read daily stories about small differences. Literacy, schools for girls, starting home businesses from keeping bees to gem stone processing are projects being discussed by Nasima Sadat, the Kunar Women's Affairs Director. There are even Female Marine Engagement Teams deployed to make inroads with the Afghan women and girls (OORAH!). Or go to Jalalabad, and read about the civilian projects run by MIT's FabLab is doing to wire the town with WiFi, enabling a generation to go online, begin ordering books for a reading room, or learn digital photography.

Each effort spells promise, an outlook to a future that wasn't there ten years ago. But it's fragile. It could go away, and it's no exaggeration that all of this comes at great risk. Afghans who partake in these programs risk their lives just showing up to the clinics, schools, shuras, and classes. Can you see this is humbling? People willing to gamble their life in order to gain a stake in a better future? It takes my breath away because things like this are taken for granted here.

I hate war. I am tired of war. I wish it would go away. I hate sending my husband off to war. I hate thinking about what he will see, how he will change. I hate it that so many who serve can't sleep at night. I hate seeing veterans sleeping on the streets. I hate that innocent people die because of it, and some assholes derive power and get rich off it.

But I also hate oppression even more. And I think there are times when we have to fight like hell. Were we to leave, every literacy project for women and girls would be gone. Those who had gone to the clinics, the shuras for women, the men who had worked with any projects that could be tied to the ISAF or westerners, would be maimed or dead. Gone too, would be educational opportunities like the Fab Lab or the School started by the San Diego-Jalalabad Sister Cities project. This school is funded by diligent Rotary Club members in La Jolla. There's even a Rotary Club in Jalalabad now.

Are we making a difference? Yes we are. Is it going to be easy? No it isn't. Will more people die? Sadly, yes. But if a kid is willing to risk his or her life to go to school, I happen to think it's worth being there to help. Like Sebastian said, they might not like us, but god forbid, if we should leave. The prospect of anyone losing freedom is a far more troubling thing to have to bear.

Tags: FST, afghanistan, care, health, medical, politics, questions, war

Comment by Sebastian Junger on May 26, 2010 at 3:40am: Thank you for that, you said it better than i ever could have. That was a really thoughful response and I hope people listen to it.

Sebastian

Comment by mouse on May 26, 2010 at 11:16am: It's interesting to find myself, as one who bestows compliments alarmingly infrequently, feeling the need to express my gratitude at yet another of your posts, Kanani. It's a real pleasure to read your literate and informed contributions.

So here's a question: Why the hell are we force-fed (via "legitimate" news agencies) the intimate details of the lives of Tiger Woods, Jesse James, and Michael Jackson for literally months at a time, and yet war coverage consistently remains a 30-second update every couple of days??

Now and then we're "treated" to the information regarding a cumulative death toll, which registers in the average American mind as some unfortunate number, ever-increasing - yet wholly vague. This number, accompanied - if at all - by microbic particulars do little to elucidate the situation for the uninformed viewer. This, in turn, contributes not only to the ignorance, apathy, and lack of general and specific support for the peace-keeping efforts, but to a far more devastating degree the men and women dedicated to this dangerous effort on our behalf.

America's addiction to "infotainment" is tragic. The forums that peddle it would probably defend their positions by claiming to make world news more palatable. My position is that it shouldn't be palatable!! The gravitas of these situations cannot be overstated, and each time we are exposed to the "sweet and light" version of bleak events, we become increasingly divorced from the reality of those events and less willing and able to assist in effecting meaningful change.

Katarina

Comment by Haole Wahine on May 26, 2010 at 11:46am: Thank you, thank you, thank you. I admire your talent to put emotions and thoughts to words. God Bless.

If you play rockin' music next to a clock, does it speed up time. Nope, well, it might be worth a try?

Thank you for blessing us with your talents. Rej

Comment by Kanani Fong on May 26, 2010 at 11:47am: Sebastian, No, I think I should thank you for taking the initiative and writing such a good response to the original question. So often we get hit with it, and usually there's no time to respond. You gave me a chance to lay down everything I've been learning over the past two years. My reading list is a literal cram course in war.

Katarina,
First, I think the general public needs to be made aware of milblogs. As in, Military Blogs. My own is called a MilSpouse blog, as in Military Spouse. There are several good ones, such as my friend Tim Lynch's Free Range International, Blue Star Families, Bill Roggio's Long Wars Journal, Blackfive, The Mudville Gazette, Abu Muqawama, Zen Pundit , Fast Surgeon in Afghanistan, as well as the ones on my own Kitchen Dispatch sidebar. There are mainstream correspondents like CJ Chivers, Sebastian Junger, Steven Pressfield, Thomas Ricks and my own friend Andrew Lubin who is there right now.

I can't answer why non-news has more appeal, except that the mixture of war, popular politics, and watershed morality can cause horrible divisions between individuals. So we end up with generalities --"War is bad, Marines are bad, the soldiers and their families are robots, and I'm a liberal so I must hate the war." to "If you don't support the war you're a pinko, and I'm a conservative I have to support the war." War, the military and soldiers become (at times) pawns in the political system. "I support the troops" is often followed by decades of whittling veterans benefits.
So what happens? Tiger, Jesse, Michael all become ways to avoid topics like war.

Comment by Kanani Fong on May 26, 2010 at 11:55am: Rej, Like you, who has seen more of this stuff than me, I hate war. I hate it so much, I now have a bizarre sense of humor. Sometimes I think that if they had just let a bunch of housewives go over and take out Osama, they'd have done it in between a shopping junket and checking into a luxury hotel in Dubai. I think the New Jersey or the Atlanta Housewives would have done it pronto, don't you?

Comment by Haole Wahine on May 26, 2010 at 2:38pm: Re: Why more aren’t interested in the War? Simplistic one word answer: DRAFT. (it’s never going to affect me, let other people handle it)

Re: Housewives . . .
Disclaimers
• I was in High School and college in the 60’s
• We were a boomer submarine family in the late 60’s and 70’s (An independent bunch to say the least.)
• I am a TEXAN – raised in the oil patches, cotton fields and mesquites of West TEXAS
• I live about 80 miles from the Alamo.

I often shake my head over the notion that a woman should not be president because she would never send young people to war. Does anyone remember Margaret Thatcher?

I’ve read that female police officers are better at “talking” people out of situations. I can believe that, but I also believe once the situation goes beyond talking, for women, it’s “Okay you had your chance . . .” Then, there is no backing down – batten down the hatches and full steam ahead. Men will keep “at it” till they believe they have the upper hand and they have made their point that they are superior to whatever. For women, no way --- you had your chance. There is no backing down, no letting someone out to save face. Women will keep going till there is no question that “it” won’t have to be dealt with again.

I think men are more risk adverse than women. Women incorporate the severe grief of each precious life lost and every injury sustained into the fabric of their souls. As long as women believe the deaths and injuries are “well spent” – women will forge forward. Men seem to need other’s approval, while women will stick with the fight.

But you are right – women would have sent in the best people with instructions, “Don’t come back till you have Osama and his crew. Wipe them OUT! “If the women themselves were spreading out, they wouldn’t have to be told not to come back till the job was finished.

Okay, that’s my feelings, now I’m all for the shopping junket and the luxury hotel. Rejenia

Comment by mouse on May 26, 2010 at 6:44pm: Personal edit:

I shuffled some thoughts around and didn't update the rest of my sentence [subject/verb agreement], so of course, this should read:

"...This number... does [not "do"] little to elucidate..."

Ack! I hate stupid errors. I hate even more that I can't let these things go without fixing them. LOL

Comment by Maggie Goff on August 20, 2010 at 7:34pm: Beautifully said, Kanani. There is so much I want to say about why I think we should stay, but that would go on for pages. I'll just repeat what I said in reply to a woman(I don't know her) as we were leaving the theatre at the end of Restrepo last Sunday afternoon, in reply to her saying "we're never going to win that war; it's stupid to stay there; can't change centuries and centuries of ignorance." .... I said "I can't stop thinking about what would happen to the girls when we leave. I can't get the video ouf of my head of the stoning of the woman in the stadium years ago, with the Taliban racing around in their Toyotas, and all the people in the stands." She looked a little taken aback, so maybe I planted a seed. I'm blessed that I was exposed to the milblogs pretty early on.... so I know much more than the average person about what's going on, and can discuss it calmly with whomever is willing to listen. I have to tell you, I am extremely grateful to Sebastian and Tim for this film and for Sebastian's book, and am looking forward to Tim's book. Glad that you're hooked up with them, Kanani, getting the word out.
Maggie Goff (MaryMargaret)
Bisbee, Az

Response: Should we be in Afghanistan?

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