The death of the 2,000th American soldier in Afghanistan is not significant as an arbitrary marker of this war’s overall toll but rather as an alarming indicator of a rise in a new kind of consequence — green-on-blue attacks. Recently, the Afghan War has seen a disturbing increase in Afghan National Army soldiers killing their International Security Assistance Force allies. The statistics show a sharp rise in these assaults called green-on-blue attacks: two in 2008, five in 2009, five in 2010, 15 in 2011 and 33 so far in 2012. Altogether, 116 coalition members have died in these attacks. This trend is negatively affecting public opinion of the war in Afghanistan and is hurting the war effort, but the only thing that can be done is to muddle through it.
Muddling through is the best course of action, which really means it is the least worst. It means to stay and implement the 2014 withdrawal plan. In a year and a half, Afghanistan will be strong enough to resist the Taliban by itself. The best-case scenario for Afghanistan is that it will become congruent to what the Philippines and Colombia were like 30 years ago with the government growing more democratic and less corrupt gradually over time. Nation-building takes time and can only be constructed by the natives — not imposed by foreigners. We’ve helped the Afghan people by planting the seeds of a nation, but it will be up to them to grow those seeds into a durable nation-state. Like any causality, green-on-blue casualties should be mourned, but they should not act to derail the entire war strategy.
The alternatives to muddling through will have disastrous consequences. Some propose that ISAF troops stop contact with ANA soldiers or that all coalition troops withdraw immediately. These are irresponsible and impractical proposals. ISAF needs to continue to work with ANA if it is to withdraw in 2014 and not let the Taliban retake the country. Withdrawing suddenly would be premature and reckless in leaving the people of Afghanistan prey to the Taliban forces. By 2014, the government will be strong enough to avoid being overthrown by the Taliban. ISAF has already introduced reforms in procedures and worked to reduce these green on blue incidents, but there will invariably be more. The death of any soldier — no matter the circumstances — is significant, and we should make sure their sacrifice was not in vain by honoring the objective for which they died. We have to muddle through and fulfill the 2014 withdrawal plan.
A version of this article appeared in the Thursday, Oct. 4 print edition. Yifang Zhao is a contributing columnist. Email him at [email protected].
