America Decided to Leave Afghanistan—Now Leave Them in Peace

America Decided to Leave Afghanistan—Now Leave Them in Peace

How many mistakes are forgivable, when they take the lives of people who never asked for us to come and reshape their country and their culture in first place?

As for the sale of children, if true, this is a reflection of the economic despair caused by our sanctions. We can release their money in segments and interrupt it again if they don’t use the monies for the benefit of the populace, to whom it rightfully belongs. But we can’t starve and freeze them because we feel insulted, and the last thing they need is for Westerners to go back in and “save” them again.

Dr. Cheryl Benard was program director in the RAND National Security Research Division. She is the author of Veiled Courage, Inside the Afghan Women’s Resistance; Afghanistan: State and SocietyDemocracy and Islam in the Constitution of Afghanistan; and Securing Health, Lessons from Nation-building Missions. Currently, she is the Director of ARCH International, an organization that protects cultural heritage sites in crisis zones.

Image: Reuters.