There have been many ways to describe maladaptive behavior in individuals. The American Psychiatric Association has an ever-evolving diagnostic work, the DSM Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, that's used to diagnose and treat psychological disorders.
A psychological disturbance, BPD - Borderline Personality Disorder is briefly defined by: instability, "black and white" thinking, chaos and no reciprocity.
A street-definition of a BPD is: "imagine yourself having teats all over your body and for a BPD it's still not enough", "BPD is like a black-hole where it takes everything and give nothing."
Some people think Afghanistan is like that; a black-hole sucking us in and givng us nothing in return. Can a whole nation, like Afghanistan, suffer psychological malaise?
In the late summer an old friend and his two sons stopped by enroute to the university. His sons had returned from Afghanistan and were resuming their university studies. The boys were Air Force and had been stationed at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan for a few years. They were tall handsome men who were circumspect about their military experience.
I asked the boys if they had to identify the one issue that could turn the war in Afghanistan around in our favor, what would it be.
They both said "drugs".
I asked them to explain. They said that the Afghans not only produce drugs for export but the rural Afghans use drugs. The rural Afghans watch our military patrol, build, and fight. The rural Afghans are often 'stoned' and can't get it together to pitch-in and work with our military and non-military interveners. The boys insisted that drug use by the rural Afghans was the source of the problems in Afghanistan.
The boys said that we go to Afghanistan and work hard for them and all they do is sit around and watch. The boys said they think the rural Afghans are stoned most of the time.
I defended the rural Afghans. I said I thought we needed to engage them more. We needed to reach out to them and help them assimilate into the modern world. I blamed us, the interveners, for not having the skills, the heart & mind, necessary to educate - draw out the Afghan spirit and soul into the 21st Century. The boys indulged me and listened to my save-the-world speech.
I remembered an Afghan restaurant from my youth. In Chicago, at the North-East corner of Belmont Avenue and Halsted Street was "The Helmand" and I wondered if it still was open. A refugee from Afghanistan had opened it and served mostly grilled meats, kabobs & pilafs, with some pita-like breads. At this link to the Encyclopedia of Chicago I found out that The Helmand had closed. http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohisto...
What struck me was that "millions of Afghans emigrated" after the Russians were forced to leave Afghanistan. It seems that we've already taken the Afghan society's creme de la creme and those who are left in Afghanistan don't want to leave Afghanistan or improve their lives.
What will be different if we leave now instead of leaving in 1 year? In 2 years? In 5 years? In 10 years? What will be different if we continue to intervene? Is Afghanistan just a black-hole of spending, sucking up resources and giving nothing in return. Have we expatriated everyone who wants out of Afghanistan? If we have, why are we still intervening?
I want Barack and Hillary to see if drug abuse among Afghans is impeding progress in Afghanistan.