Patrick Martin
Senior Member
It is indeed a tragedy that innocent young Afghan children like this will suffer for the sins of their elders. But America (my country!) and the world should not use the presence of such innocents as an excuse to allow the Taliban regime to continue in power in Afghanistan.
One of the other posters suggested buying "butter, not guns". We (the rest of the world) have tried doing that. The Taliban have placed severe restrictions on the work of international aid workers. They arrested one young American woman for the dastardly crime of bringing a BIBLE into the country. Other aid workers have been arrested on other pretexts, and food has been confiscated by government authorities for their own use.
Moreover, the young child pictured might be in better condition if his mother were allowed to leave the house rather than be kept as a virtual slave locked away from public view. Perhaps he is orphaned because his father was executed for the crime of cutting his beard or getting a western-style haircut.
The Taliban regime's quest for ideological purity is killing their country as effectively as any cruise missle could. Frankly, I think that this child would be better off in the long run if America invaded Afghanistan and set up a military governorship to help it make the transition into a modern, civilized, educated nation.
For those who believe America is war-mongering, bent only on destruction, I would remind you of our treatment of Germany and Japan after World War II. Our country understood our moral obligation to help those that we hurt so brutally once our need for self-defense had past. Rather than exacting tribute or turning it into an American colony, we assisted them in their industrial rebuilding and took over the entire task of providing for its military defense. To this day, Japan has no standing army. It doesn't pay us to defend it, we do it because it is in our mutual best interests to do so.
Patrick Martin
P.S. Please note my use of the phrase "ideological purity" in describing the Taliban's mania. They cite religion for support of their fanatacism, but I haven't seen a single reputable scholar of the Qu'ran support their extremist interpretations.
One of the other posters suggested buying "butter, not guns". We (the rest of the world) have tried doing that. The Taliban have placed severe restrictions on the work of international aid workers. They arrested one young American woman for the dastardly crime of bringing a BIBLE into the country. Other aid workers have been arrested on other pretexts, and food has been confiscated by government authorities for their own use.
Moreover, the young child pictured might be in better condition if his mother were allowed to leave the house rather than be kept as a virtual slave locked away from public view. Perhaps he is orphaned because his father was executed for the crime of cutting his beard or getting a western-style haircut.
The Taliban regime's quest for ideological purity is killing their country as effectively as any cruise missle could. Frankly, I think that this child would be better off in the long run if America invaded Afghanistan and set up a military governorship to help it make the transition into a modern, civilized, educated nation.
For those who believe America is war-mongering, bent only on destruction, I would remind you of our treatment of Germany and Japan after World War II. Our country understood our moral obligation to help those that we hurt so brutally once our need for self-defense had past. Rather than exacting tribute or turning it into an American colony, we assisted them in their industrial rebuilding and took over the entire task of providing for its military defense. To this day, Japan has no standing army. It doesn't pay us to defend it, we do it because it is in our mutual best interests to do so.
Patrick Martin
P.S. Please note my use of the phrase "ideological purity" in describing the Taliban's mania. They cite religion for support of their fanatacism, but I haven't seen a single reputable scholar of the Qu'ran support their extremist interpretations.