I was listening to a talk show today (on Point) and it discussed Afghanistan and a book written by Rajiv Chandrasekaran.
The Book is entitled “little America: the war within the war in Afghanistan”.
The discussion was essentially about our failure to accomplish very much in that country due to a lack of understanding of the people and their needs. We based our actions on the idea that everyone wants to be like America. This theory caused billions of dollars to be spent in non productive ways. There was no consideration given to the tribal divides and regional needs. Russia was defeated in that country yet while being hated by the people did better things than we did, they paved some areas for their use but it helped the people. We attempted to turn a sows ear into a silk purse when all that was required was just a way to get the sow to market in the most efficient way. The region has specific needs in order to grow crops but we never understood the land or the use of it. We attempted to train their army by leading them rather than train their people and allow them to train themselves. We did not teach, we did and expected the example to be followed exactly. The excerpt from the book is available online at “onpoint.com”.
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