Food and Bombs

The United States is dropping both food and bombs on Afghanistan at the same time. Am I the only one that thinks this is very strange, and totally counterproductive?

Until very recently war was conducted between countries, and civilians were part of the war effort. Sometimes attacking forces tried to avoid killing civilians, other times they were explicitly targeted. In neither case were apologies rendered when civilians died. Wars were usually conducted because one side desired land or resources the other side had.

Things have changed. I'm not sure that war is the correct word for what his happening in Afghanistan right now, but lets use it for the sake of convenience. Unless I missed it, the United States has not formally declared war on Afghanistan, nor has the reverse happened. No, it turns out that someone who is believed to be living in Afghanistan is believed to have directed a terrorist attack against the US that killed between 5 and 6 thousand civilians. As near as we can tell, these civilians were deliberately targeted.

Naturally, the US wants to find and punish the people who planned and supported the September 11th attacks. Afghanistan wouldn't give up the main suspect when asked, so the US feels it has to compel them to do so. After Viet Nam, the US has not been willing to risk the lives of it's soldiers in ground combat. Air superiority is one of the strengths of the US, so they try to use it whenever possible. So far, tons of bombs and other munitions have been dropped in Afghanistan, just as they have been in almost every conflict the US has been involved with since WW1.

But the situation is a little more delicate this time. There are millions of people world-wide who believe that in responding to the attacks, the US is in fact using the attack as an excuse to attack Islam. The US is trying get what it wants using it's traditional tools, while not enraging other Muslims. Inevitably some civilians have been killed in the air raids. The Afghans are playing a poor hand as best they can by portraying these civilian deaths, all several dozen of them, as evidence that the US is a terrorist state.

Afghanistan has been through some tough times. They were the target of an invasion by a world superpower, then a civil war, or perhaps it was the other way around, or both at once. It's hard for an average Westerner to tell. For many years they have suffered through a drought, and one of the most repressive and outright stupid governments on the face of the earth. There is credible evidence that without aid, millions of Afghans are going to starve to death this winter. The United States has traditionally been one of the major contributors of aid in the world. It would not have been a surprise to see them sending aid to Afghanistan. Except now they are angry at a small group of people in that country, leading to the current situation of trying to send aid and bombs at the same time.

I think the US is being very stupid about this affair. In any conflict the important thing is to win, that is, to get what you want. You get bonus points for being seen as the good guy while doing so. War is a tool to make people change their minds. People in both London and Berlin proved that dropping bombs is a poor way to do that. The Afghans proved resilient to all the military force the Soviets could bring to bear, and a century prior to that, all the military force Victorian England could bring to bear. There is no reason to believe they will knuckle under to the military force of the United States.

How much better it would have been to have provided food and other aid, not bombs. Both Pakistan and Iran would probably have been willing to allow their territory to be used to support bona fide relief efforts, even if the US military was protecting them. Giving food to starving people is a powerful tool for changing their opinion of you. Look what the Marshal Plan did for German and Japan. A similar plan could have a similar effect on other countries, and pay off far better than any traditional military operation.

Bribery to attain one's ends is a much honoured tactic in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Even if the food is seen as a bribe, so what? The United States probably wouldn't even have to tie the food supply to the desire to have their suspects delivered. If supplying the food doesn't produce that result, really, that's the only downside. You've gained the (possibly grudging) goodwill of the Muslim world. You've made it harder to operate terrorists camps. After all, the best recruit for a terrorist organization is someone who already hates your target, and has nothing more to lose.

And food is cheap, compared to cruise missiles and smart bombs.