Afghanistan

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/05/27/once_upon_a_time_in_afghanistan

I read this article today. It made me cry.

When I see articles like this, talking about foreign countries (to the US) and how the US/allies destroyed them, at first, I'm apprehensive. Is this going to be another "Americans are evil" article? Will I feel as though I'm somehow all that is wrong with the world after I read it?

This was different.

What a beautiful place! The Afghanistan represented in this photos, to a United Statesian 22-year-old, looks almost precisely like the US in the 1950s and 1960s (as represented in photos, anyway). It amazes me. Now, it's incredibly possible there was a lot of slant to this - after all, propagandized versions of perfect life in the 50s and 60s were incredibly common. However, I'm willing to believe that these are real. Part of me wants to, but a large part of me is not surprised by the possibility.

War can ruin everything. When the Soviets attacked Afghanistan, they ruined everything. As the Soviets tended to do, to be true. The damage caused by the invasion is incredible. (The US helped with that. We are responsible as well.)

When discussing the current war between the US and Afghanistan, I often say that I feel it is a war that cannot be won. The Soviets couldn't win war in Afghanistan. The only way Afghanistan is conquered is politically, but all real wars do is shred the people's ability to live to nothingness. We aren't punishing the government or the evil. We're punishing the people. 

Do I want to destroy the Taliban? Catch Bin Laden? Eliminate these extremists who only want to spread terror? Hell. Yes. 

Part of it is because I think that without those things happening, there is a possibility that some of the people could recover, at least a little. Start building up again. 

What I don't want to see is more war and more destruction driving any more of the people in the Middle Eastern countries further back in time.

These pictures depict an Afghanistan I've never heard of. They show an Afghanistan nearly as progressive as the US in the same time period. Why was this world destroyed? I don't understand. It angers me and frustrates me. No one deserves this.

War is such hell to be infectious. It is more cruel to the weak than the strong. 

I just don't understand, and I don't want this to happen anymore or ever again.