We Need a Bear (or 2) in the Air

There are some things about this so-called war on terror that I just don’t understand. And since I get to see it reasonably close up it is starting to bug me. For instance:

When the US dropped in on the country in late 2001, they thought that all of the roads had been mined. It took them a while to figure out that the damn things had just fallen apart, or didn’t exist. As your basic Humvee doesn’t have the smooth ride of your mother’s Buick, it didn’t take them long to figure out that a highway linking the cities of the country was desperately needed. (Remember—it was Eisenhower, a military man, that brought us great roads in the US). This was probably the easiest decision ever, because bringing Afghanistan together would be a huge boost to the economy.

One of the phases included the 300 miles of road between Kabul and Kandahar, for which the US threw down a cool $190 million. As you can see here, it was a tremendous accomplishment and a major point of pride for both US and Afghanistan. Moreover, it was only one section in a highway that is hundreds of miles long, and which was completed over a few year period. A great success story, eh?

Well, not so much. You see, the ring road, the path to the future of Afghanistan, has been privatized. No, not Mitch Daniels/Indiana Toll Road privatized. Privatized as in Taliban. That’s right, the Taliban now controls major portions of the Ring Road, and they have made it unusable by all but the bravest Afghans—and some Koreans who were oblivious to where they were. Foreigners get kidnapped (and often killed) for ransom, and Afghans just get robbed and killed.

Drive 300 miles on I-80 and you will see a number of airplanes/helicopters monitoring speed. Why don’t we just run some helicopters out, and patrol the road. Helicopters with cool guns would give pause to even the bravest of the Taliban. I mean they aren’t even all that brave—taking over a bunch of Korean church people isn’t exactly going down with the Battle of the Bulge as one of the great battles of our time.

I asked my friend Bob why the military can’t secure a damn highway. He is retired military, knew what FOB stood for, and thus is my military authority. Unfortunately, he had a pathetic (but apparently true) answer: Money. You see, it is dang expensive to keep stuff in the air for extended periods of time. But it is just money. My belief is that, if the American people knew that a couple million a day would allow us to reclaim our investment in roads, and allow Afghans and Koreans to travel unfettered by terrorists and thieves, that they would ante up right now. Alternatively, we could say to some rich guys, ‘Hey, we need some of your tax cut to pay for helicopters and a few Humvees to solidify our work in Afghanistan.’ I mean, does it sound all that unreasonable? I didn’t think so.

So there you have it America. Please, demand that more, not less money be spent in Afghanistan. Trust me, for the equivalent of a rounding error on the Pentagon budget, we could secure a huge chunk of this place. It works on I-80—it will work here. 'We got a bear in the air, good buddy.' It's just what we need.