Degrees of Separation Before most Americans could locate Vietnam on a map, Afghanistan was Great Britain's Vietnam. In 1842, the British surrendered their garrison in Kabul and set out, under terms of an armistice that guaranteed them safe passage to the Khyber Pass, for the security of India. The contingent of British and Indian troops, wives, children and servants numbered 16,000. Under Mohammed Akbar Khan, who had negotiated the withdrawal, Afghan horsemen visited carnage on the column from the outset. One person survived the journey to reach Jalalabad. A few of the Indians endured frigid conditions concealed in caves and straggled through the passes in the ensuing months. In London, the Times intoned, "Our worst fears regarding the Afghanistan expedition have been justified." Almost 150 years later, the Soviet army tucked tail and withdrew from Afghanistan after a decade of bloody futility. Back home, public opinion had been outraged by a stream of body bags filled to no purpose. Like the British, against whom they had used Afghan tribesmen they had co-opted, the Russians could not prevail with superior weapons against natives who knew the land as their own. When the U.S. went in after Al Qaeda, some remembered Vietnam, which had convinced Americans that any loss of life was too much. A clinical war waged from the sky and through Afghan proxies relieved that specter. Now, America has taken casualties in combat and another theater of war opens. As more battles claim more lives, public opinion will form up, weighing the cost of another foreign expedition. The challenge will be to remember that this time there is a purpose, one worth dying for. Ed Fowler ============================================================== (c) 2002 Millennium Relief & Development Services, vol. 2 no. 14 'Insight' is a publication of MRDS to interpret current events in light of the experience of members of our international network. 'Insight' archives and other information can be found on our website. 'Insight' may be freely copied with this citation. If you wish to be removed from this mailing list, simply reply and request to be removed. Millennium RDS, 5116 Bissonnet #358, Bellaire, TX 77401-4007 Tel: (713)961-5645 Fax: (713)961-5735 www.mrds.org insight@mrds.org. ==============================================================