Blog 2023 Malcolm Blair-Robinson

Civilian Casualties

The deaths of twelve civilians on the second day of the NATO offensive is tragic news. Built into the profuse aplogies and regrets from the military top brass is the caveat that accidents happen in war.

This is the nub. Indeed they do. Which is why war cannot any longer reasonably be used as an instrument of civil policy or as a means to install a government of whatever beneficence upon a people who do not themselves take the initiative to make the change. It causes death among civilians, among them women and small children, it means young military personnel on both sides will be killed and it will never bring the reward of the objective because order brought forth behind the barrel of a gun will not sustain. Only order brought about by the consent of the people will endure and this must be wrought, through whatever self imposed suffering, by them absolutely.

The Karzai government has tottered on the fringe of power, as the invaders’ official regime, for coming up to nine years and through that time as a consequence of mis-management, corruption, dishonesty and deceit it has manged to fail spectacularly to live up to the early promise of its inauguration. 

The Taliban were conquered militarily but have enjoyed a resurgence in popularity which has enabled them to establish an insurgency which has rested large tracts of the country from any control whatsoever from Kabul and even rendered the capital city itself a frightening and dangerous redoubt.

The reason these exotic tribesmen, whose fundamentalist faith appeals to the traditions of their country, are able to pose with small arms, mopeds and kitchen built mines a military challenge sufficient to engage the West’s best generals and assure  top of the in-tray priority in London and Washington, is because their governance and economy is more efficient and a great deal more honest than the tacky and uncertain alternative which has to blast its way around the country behind thousands of foreign troops.

This has all  happened before in a place called Viet Nam.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 15th, 2010 at 7:53 pm and is filed under Malcolm Blair Robinson. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.