Bye Bye Karzai

In the last few days, Afghanistan's alleged leader, Hamid Karzai, has tried different tricks to force America to bend to his will in order to remain in his country. A Council utilized to approve an agreement which would allow the US to stay in Afghanistan, said yes to a pact. However Karzai has refused to sign it.

Who cares. The American people would like to leave the country referred to as "the graveyard of empires." Let's look at some of the mistakes other countries have made there over the centuries.

The 19th century saw an England that wanted to protect its control over India. So they spent most of the century sparring with Russia over Afghanistan and the surrounding area. It was pretty clearly a mess, with many men dying in the process.

In the First Anglo-Afghan War (which began in 1838) Britain tried to impose a puppet regime on the country. Of the 4500 British troops only 690 were Europeans. The rest were Indians who'd been enslaved by the British Empire. By the time the Afghans had driven them out, only one European was alive, accompanied by a few Indians. It was an example of the deathtrap that is Afghanistan.

The British and the Russians skirmished over Afghanistan for the rest of the  19th century. In 1979 the Russians invaded Afghanistan, only eventually to retreat and lick their wounds.

Karzai's brother is a major drug smuggler. Karzai himself doesn't have much to recommend him. It's time to say "bye-bye Karzai," and adios to a country in which tribes really control what happens there.