Secretary of State Hillary Clinton this week, while on a visit to Afghanistan to meet with President Hamid Karzai, formally designated Afghanistan as a "major non-NATO ally," and announced the new alliance to diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.
That’s nice. It’s always nice to have allies.
President Barack Obama had already informed Karzai of the plan when he made a secret trip to Afghanistan in May on the anniversary of Osama bin Laden's death. The move will "provide a long-term framework for security and defense cooperation," a White House statement said.
NATO has agreed to give Afghan security forces control of the country by mid-2013 ahead of our troop withdrawal by the end of 2014, however, the president intends that U.S.-Afghan cooperation will continue beyond that date.
OK, so there’s going to be a U.S./Afghan alliance which will provide a long-term framework for security and defense cooperation. That’s just a small part of what the Afghans are going to get.
The question in my mind is: besides the bragging rights for being Mr. Nice Guy for the umpteenth time, what are we going to get?
Hillary doesn’t say.
The President doesn’t say.
Is Afghanistan going to provide the U.S. with security and defense cooperation for our nation?
No.
Is Afghanistan going to give the U.S. and our citizens billions of dollars in financial aid to support our ailing economy?
No.
Is Afghanistan going to provide the U.S. with billions of dollars worth of military hardware and training for our military forces?
Not a chance.
Is Afghanistan going to give the U.S. anything at all after all we have done for them; all the money we have spent; all the blood and tears our troops have shed?
No way.
It’s going to be another one-way alliance. We will do the giving. They will do the taking. The Afghan citizens will get the mine. The American citizens will get the shaft.
The United States’ major non-NATO allies include Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Egypt, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Korea and Thailand. With that status, these countries are eligible for priority delivery of military hardware and can get U.S. government help to buy arms and equipment.
OK again, so we know what they all get.
But what do we get?
Which of those nations have ever provided us with priority delivery of military hardware or government help to buy arms and equipment? Which of them has given the Americans anything at all besides an extended palm of the hand?
Not a single one.
We do the giving. They do the taking.
That seems to be the purpose of the United States of America in the world.
We provide the mine. They give us the shaft.
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