Lessons from the past: Why the war in Afghanistan is doomed
“We are content with discord, we are content with alarms, we are content with blood,” the old man said. “But we will never be content with a master.”
That was an Afghan tribal elder speaking, 200 years ago, to the first British diplomat to be sent to that country, Mountstuart Elphinstone.
The above quote comes from an excellent article in the Times, by Ben Macintyre. Go read the whole of it when you’re done here.
Another quote; this time the words of Elphinstone himself:
“Afghanistan, he wrote, could be understood only through its kaleidoscopic tribal structures. “The societies into which the nation is divided possess within themselves a principle of repulsion and disunion too strong to be overcome,” he noted. When the British marched into Afghanistan to bring about regime-change a few years later, Elphinstone, now in retirement, advised that the venture was hopeless. Sure enough, in 1842, 16,000 British soldiers and camp-followers were slaughtered during the retreat from Kabul, the worst military disaster the Raj had suffered.”
As they say, “Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose…”
You know how some women keep picking the same type of abusive partners - and how this very vicious cycle can only be broken after these women come to terms with whatever happened to them in the past, after all kinds of harsh lessons have been learned.
The same thing seems to happen to humans on a broader scale - on that much larger canvas that we call ‘history’.
Hence, that old cliché about ‘history repeating itself.’
Of course, we really shouldn’t be surprised about this at all - but what should concern us is that we, as a species, seem to be even less inclined to learn from our past than those abused women do, who go for these same type of violent men, and violent messes, time after time after time.
If you enjoyed this post, subscribe today to get free updates by email or RSS.
