The New York Times editorial, “Plenty of Blame for Afghanistan” [16 December 2007] does a fair job of summarizing all that is wrong and has gone wrong with the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan. The editors applaud a planned “much needed top-to-bottom review of their strategy”; but they also succumb to the old colonialist belief in the necessity of continuing intervention:

…European and American troops will most likely have to remain there for many years.

A real review of the invasion of Afghanistan would show that the only evil of a withdrawal of invading powers is the evil of the prior invasion. An ongoing occupation by colonizing powers will not undo the wrong of their invasion, despite the old belief, which Rudyard Kipling approvingly called “The White Man’s Burden.” But he also warned, “Nor call too loud on Freedom / To cloke your weariness.” Bush/Cheney have called too loudly on “freedom” from the start, to cloak their nefarious aims and their weariness.

The weariness of the invaders is driven by domestic concerns and growing awareness of the need for transformation of global political-economy away from war. The aftermath of the war in Afghanistan will not be pretty, no matter how long the end is delayed. The imperative of a review is not only “top to bottom,” but from the bottom up: What will it take to sustain a viable society? The conclusions of such inquiry will no doubt implicate every invading nation, as well as the invaded.