If we win, the US should put a decent amount of effort into rebuilding Afghanistan

[b0mbrman]

Barring a last-second comeback by the Taliban, they'll be ousted and replaced by a government friendlier to the US.

Now, before the war, Afghanistan was already destroyed. When American bombers and Northern Alliance soldiers barnstormed their way across the country, they made it even worse.

My question is how much should we rebuild it? (Try to do this on a scale of 1 to 10 or something like that instead of saying things like "We should do all we can" or "We should help a lot")

Also, for your answers, think of both political strategy and moral responsibility.

 

[gopunk]

i think that we should ask the afghans what they need... god knows i have no clue what they want...

 

[Random Variable]

<< Barring a last-second comeback by the Taliban >>


you make it sound like a basketball game

 

[b0mbrman]

Yeah, that was my intent

 

[jacklutz]

Fully. That will, hopefully, create a government friendly to the West and will eliminate the need to export opium if there's a strong economy. Of course, it will also take a long time...

 

[notfred]

The same amount of effort we put into destroying it.

 

[lepper boy]

well since we are/did bomb the crap out of a lot of places I think it would be nice to help rebuild some things... as long as the new gov. isn't going to find mr. osma the 2nd.. and say, "hey wanna come visit?"

 

[geekybear]

quite a bit. we should do as much as we can to promote growth and stability in that country to prevent future taliban-like regimes. part of the reason the taliban took hold of the country was that they were to provide some stability in the lives of the citizens. of course, history showed that stability to be a stable supply of oppression and terror...

 

[b0mbrman]

quite a bit. we should do as much as we can to promote growth and stability in that country to prevent future taliban-like regimes. part of the reason the taliban took hold of the country was that they were to provide some stability in the lives of the citizens. of course, history showed that stability to be a stable supply of oppression and terror...

Yeah, but there are dozens of poor, unstable countries in the world...

Is there anyone who thinks that the US should rebuild Afghanistan (for strategic political reasons) but doesn't think we should be morally responsible for anything past where it was before?

 

[yllus]

Although I don't think the U.S. owes *anything* to Afghanistan, helping rebuild a country in that specific part of the world is very advantageous in the long run. Those are areas with huge populations (though little land mass) and sooner or later they'll become an attractive market for exports. Military-wise, it's an excellent base of commands with close access to Russia/India/Pakistan/China...can you say spy radar? And it wouldn't hurt to use the country as a signal to show the region's people that hey, our way of life is pretty damn good, there's no real reason to hate us.

A little (or a lot) expenditure not will probably be repaid 10x in the long run in every way possible.

 

[Iwentsouth]

None. It will be counterproductive. The US has already put enough money overseas. I think the Muslim countrys should come in and help out there brother muslims.

 

[b0mbrman]

I think the Muslim countrys should come in and help out their brother muslims.

I totally agree!

But at the same time, if the US doesn't come in and save the day, Afghans will be poor (as poor as they were before) but this time, it will somehow be the US' fault.

 

[Iwentsouth]

The US has been the largest provider of humanitarian aid in Afghanistan the past 10 years. They all still hate us. They do not want us there. Perhaps training and materials to rebuild things like irrigation for crops and tractors to help plow so they can startgrowing there own food again instead of poppys. Keep Americans out after the war is over though. they will be targets for terrorist attacks. Look at what is happening in the Balkans. Look at what happened in Somalia from humanitarion missions. We are damne if we do damned if we don't. See I know we should not get involved there afterwords...but damn I feel for them.

 

[Fastball]

<< I think the Muslim countrys should come in and help out their brother muslims. >>



Yep.

It's ridiculous. We spend billions of dollars fighting the war and then we have to spend billions more to rebuild it. Is anyone else sick of this cycle? At this point, I could honestly care less about the country of Afghanistan or any other Middle-Eastern country for that matter. We have enough of our own problems that need to be taken care of before we go dumping billions of dollars into a foreign land that will never benefit from it in the long run. Peace is hopeless in the Middle East.

 

[Nefrodite]

we should do it to make a point, besides money goes a long way there we don't want those freaky countries sticking their nose in and helping.

 

[Renob]

NO we should not.

 

[b0mbrman]

See, that's not entirely true though. For example, we've given Egypt $24 billion+ over the last 30 years :Q and their common people and their press *still* hate us--if you'll recall, some of those involved with Al Qaeda and the Sept. 11 attacks were Egyptians. The only ones who aren't anti-US are their political leaders who grudgingly accept.

 

[b0mbrman]

This question actually came up between me and a friend.

Someone said "We could bring them back to where they were before the US action or way above where they were. Either way, I'm sleepin' good tonight!"

Someone said "Yes, but I'd feel horrible if we didn't" which I think means there are moral issues to this and those are bigger in most people's minds than the strategic one

 

[BigJohnKC]

Even if we gave them money, we'd still be remembered as the white muslim-hating devils who destroyed the country for no good reason. I'm all for humanitarianism for a good cause, but guilt about blowing up a country should not become that good cause. I say fvck em, let them be poor, any money we give won't be appreciated or really even help anything at all. I've never understood this bomb then pay for the damage mentality. That has never happened prior to this century. Do you think the Vikings ever paid war reparations after looting, raping, and pillaging other countries? No, and neither should we. Harsh? yes.

 

[thebestMAX]

Right or wrong, I am sure we will if only to satisfy the liberals and the media. ( Read keep them quiet)

 

[GL]

When the U.S. has rebuilt its enemies, it has always worked out to its advantage in the long-term. Afghanistan would be an excellent target for American corporate expansion. Don't think rebuilding is just helping Afghans, because American companies benefit and then of course, those Americans who work for those companies. It will also make the American-haters put their money where their mouth is. People in countries that neighbour Afghanistan would flock there for Mc Donalds, Coke, MTV and the greenback. I'm almost certain of this. This would ultimately undermine the religious zealots that wish to suppress the natural tendency of people to behave in western-style capitalistic ways when they have the freedom to do so. And, ultimately that part of the world would become a better place. We'll see...even Osama drinks Pepsi (no joke...but apparently he doesn't consider it American because it's bottled in Pakistan).

 

[BDawg]

We should do nothing. Bush said during the Wake Forest debate that he is not at all for nation building.

 

[royaldank]

<< When the U.S. has rebuilt its enemies, it has always worked out to its advantage in the long-term. >>



I'm not too sure about that. After WWII, we rebuilt Japan and protected them. They didn't have to worry about defense spending and were able to funnel all that money into technology. Many analysts agree that this is how they got ahead of the US in the tech race. Win the tech race, you win lots of money from royalties, rights, and exporting. We were too busy spending large amounts of money on defense "goods" instead of throwing that at universities. However, defense is a major player in developing technology, so it's not that we are completely losing.

 

[resinboy]

gee, we gave them a ton of $$$ to build a sports stadium- what do they use it for??? EXECUTIONS!!!!!!!!!! Yeah, let's give them more money...........................
GL: I don't see rebuilding Japan helped us any: all we did was give them state of the art steel and electronics industries, and having them export 90% of their stuff here, and eventually helped turn our country from a producing nation into a consuming one.



Resinboy

 

[b0mbrman]

. I've never understood this bomb then pay for the damage mentality. That has never happened prior to this century. Do you think the Vikings ever paid war reparations after looting, raping, and pillaging other countries? No, and neither should we. Harsh? yes.

Hell yes!

Seriously, I wish we could go back to a time when we were allowed to think like this...we've got *so* many bombs and troops ready to fight for the USA, I wish we could use them...

BTW, I don't think building up nations that we can buy consumer goods from is bad.

Why? Cuz it makes it so the US can switch from building consumer goods to building investment goods which increases the Kapital/Labor ratio which is better for the economy in the long run...