For Americans, this Afghan diaspora is a difficult thing to get our heads around. It tugs at our hearts and reeks beneath our noses. We don't know what to do.
One CNN analyst suggested that America should get as many Afghan women and girls out of that country as possible. To that damned suggestion, I could imagine, if Jed Clampett was an Afghan, he'd say, "You're 'bout to muddy my creek."
It is too easy to lose our way in matters such as these, especially when we are not only unsure but also dishonest about our motives.
America's altruism does not run nearly as deeply as does its pride. One Fox host, Greg Gutfeld, gloated that, within two weeks of America's withdrawal from Afghanistan, there will be no money in their banks, no gas for their cars, no electricity for their homes. Rather than pat ourselves on the back for the "greatest airlift since Berlin," we might should worry that Gutfeld's vision of Afghanistan is what we leave behind.
America did not have much trouble putting together a formidable coalition to help it bomb Afghanistan. How about we put as much effort into a formidable alliance to ensure Afghanistan's survival? At present, we seem a bit too angry to do that.
Perhaps we are simply pouting over losing the Afghan war to a band of rabble, and along with that, losing $80 billion worth of advanced American weaponry. There is an old saying, however: "To the victor belongs the spoils." That is a bitter pill for the greatest nation on Earth to swallow. Yet, swallow we much, last we soon choke on our pride, and further lose our way. Better that we should shake with the Taliban, like good sports, and move to make the best of a bad situation. If we don't those Afghan women and girls we feign to love so much will be the ones who suffer most.
We pretend that the Taliban is our enemy. They are not. they did not attack us on 9/11; their guest Al Quaeda did. It is right that we held the Taliban accountable for being such a gracious host to the terrorist outfit. But they, themselves, are no more our enemy than were the Viet Cong, who ceased to be our enemy the moment we quit their land.
Today, I hear the Afghan Girls' Robotics Team has slipped away from Afghanistan and is now in America. At the risk of sounding harsh, I suggest America does not need those fine young ladies a tenth as much as Afghanistan needs them. Of course, for them, life will be easier in America, and so will the immediate optics be easier on us.
President John F. Kennedy once said, "We choose to go to the moon, not because it is easy, but because it is hard." The easy way out for the U.S. is to look magnanimous while taking in the cream of Afghanistan's crop and adding them to our own stacked roster. The way to the moon is to suck up our pride and assist the nation that defeated us. We need to help all 20 million Afghan girls and women, all 40 million Afghans. You may say, "We tried; it didn't work." Well, let's try again. Look, this is difficult for everyone. Need I repeat the words of JFK?
I do not know if there is anyone living who can vouch for the Taliban. Who would? Yet, we must give ourselves a chance to give them a chance... for the sake of the Afghan people. The Taliban won the war, fair and square. If we do not give them a chance we write off 40 million Afghans - we purposefully relegate their lives to desperation, rather than the hope and dignity all peoples deserve.
Let's do it! Let's see if we can put aside the mirror that only reflects our exceptional selves. Let us see. Let us define what a real American can be.
