by Robert Gore
The variables the US government is trying to control in the Middle East are proliferating, but it has repeatedly failed to control far fewer variables and has made multiple situations worse. Other than as an honest broker of peace, no matter what form future intervention might take, it will be counterproductive. The government’s two major interests—oil and protecting the US from Islamic extremist violence—would be far better served if it left the region.
The Sunni Muslim group al Qaeda was born in Afghanistan in the 1970s, midwifed by US (CIA), Pakistani (ISI), and Iranian (SAVAK) security agencies to battle Afghanistan’s pro-Soviet regime and draw the Soviet Union into a Vietnam-style quagmire. It “worked” by US lights: the Afghan government fell and the Soviets withdrew, dispirited and spent, from a decade-long quagmire in 1989. However, the conflict illustrated what was to become a recurring pattern. It proved far less of a success for the people of Afghanistan. Between 850,000 and 1.5 million Afghan civilians died, and there were 6 million refugees. The country was riven by factions, many supported by foreign powers, and a decade-long civil war ensued.
