An aphorism I ascribed to in my early lifetime goes like this —politics makes you stupid. I still believe that, and every passing day makes the truth of that statement more obvious.

Afghanistan was always going to be a disaster and the reality we hear from our politicians is so far from the truth it's not funny.

War always means money and power for someone, it's the collateral damage that is the hidden cost for the money and power making that makes it such a travesty.

Arjay, the word is spelt "heroin". Unless you are referring to the millions of Afghan women and girls, the real heroines, and their male supporters, who have had the courage to lift their heads, go outside their homes, get an education and employment ?

The sisters who were living in hell before, under the Taliban, and will do so again if they return - at least those who survive ?

While their sisters in Leichhardt and Balmain and Carlton are sipping their soy latte lights and comparing Louis Vuittons.

And Turkmenistan is between Afhhanistan and the Caspian Sea. Did you mean Tajikstan ? And it would probably be gas that they are piping from Turkmenistan, not oil, and more likely through Iran rather than across the Caspian to Azerbaijan.

Kellie,

I have the greatest respect and affection for Malalai Joya, an amazingly courageous woman, one of an endangered breed. But for the life of me, I can't see how the Taliban can be controlled and contained once the Coalition forces leave. And if the Taliban takes over once again, and the most brutal and backward cultural practices are once again given free rein, all power will be given back to the men, with the women either murdered or driven back into the home to be nothing more than the breeding vessels, and servants, for the men.

And we know whose heads that crime will be on, don't we ? Are you ready for that ?

Cheers,

Joe

With lefties like Tranter, it's damned if we do and damned if we don't. Whether the US and Australia went into Afghanistan to instantiate human rights or they remained idle and let it be run by 7th century thugs, this is merely another opportunity to sink the boot into America, like the rest of Tranter's articles.

What is Tranter's solution to human rights abuses in Afghanistan?

Thankyou Kellie for your article. Ever since the sacking of the Whitlam Government successive administrations have acquiesed to US foreign policy. Books by John Pilger, Helen Caldicott, Robert Mann and others make this ubundantly clear. The problem to which you allude is, at its core, that the world has to wake up to the reality that the sociopathic US politico/ military/ industial conglomerate is in fact the dominant ROGUE STATE. In the last 250 years the US has been at peace with the world for only 21 of those years. Their interventions militarily in other sovereign countries have always been in support of their own vested interest and are well documented historically. Ref. Killing Hope by William Blum. Quite clearly from the Reagan years onwards US policy makers are afflicted with a "cowboy" mentality, their own mythological creation . In terms of global welfare they are demonstratively irresponsible. One only needs to consider their recent history of obstruction in relation to the UN and the establishing of an International court of justice.
DEN71

Thank you Kellie for the article. As most of the comments make clear however, it is likely your arguments fall upon deaf ears and blind eyes. Australians have an amazing capacity to ignore history, or more particularly those parts of history that do not conform with their blinkered and ignorant view of world history.
Most Australians would have had trouble locating Afghanistan on a map prior to 11 September 2001. They were profoundly ignorant of the role played by the US in undermining the nationalist and secular Tariki government during the 1970s which was implememting the very reforms our politicians claim justifies their presence in Afghanistan.
That conduct by the US through the 1970s and 1980s included the training and financing a radical Islamist groups to destroy the Tariki government. Among the mujihideen (Reagen's freedom fighters") was one Osama bin Laden.
When the Taliban eventuially emerged victorious from the post Soviet withdrawal chaos the Americans were quite happy to support them even paying the salaries of government ministers. It wasn't until mid-2001 when the Taliban government refused to agree to American pipeline plans that Bush approved the attack upon Afghanistan. This pre-dated "9/11" which then, as now, is the all purpose justification for a whole range of atrocities and illegal acts committed by the US.
The attack on Afghanistan was built on a lie, has been sustained by lies and even the purported end to Australia's involvement is just another extended lie.
Our puppy dog devotion to American criminality is not just contrary to Australia's true best interests. It is a crime against international law and the sooner Howard, Rudd and Gillard face the International Criminal Court the better. I am not holding my breath however, as the notion of accountability for wrongdoing is as missing from your commenters as their knowledge of history.

The war has been very messy and questionable. What I always fail to understand is why western feminist could not care less about young middle eatern girls not getting educated. Is the only selfish western causes such as the right to abort that they are prepared to fight for?