Random Thoughts, Notes, & Incidents

Well, the Taliban have been routed out of Kabul, but don't fret - Our leaders assure us that the lack of an enemy is not a deterrent to continuing the war effort for some time to come.

In fact, our good friends and allies in the Northern Alliance may well turn out to be perfect for the role of the enemy as news of atrocities comes out of the cities that they've liberated. There's no real surprise here: The reason the Afghani people originally welcomed the Taliban is that they put an end to the kind of violence and anarchy that the warring factions of the Northern Alliance had put them through. Of course, I'm not one to say "I told you so" - but I think I did.

The big problem now will be one of "nation building." Remember, it's not really a "democracy" when it's installed by a foreign conqueror. We're actually disadvantaged by the quick fall of the Talilban because there's no clear sense of any local and sane group that could run the country. There's local, and there's sane. Just not together.

In other news, an online writer buddy of mine, Doris Lane, has a new blog: Neptune's Daughter Blog. Give her a visit. She's witty and intelligent and kindly quoted from my Veteran's Day ramblings.