In my dad’s lifetime we went from fighting a bitter war with Vietnam to building our most popular consumer electronics there. I wonder what we will build in Afghanistan in my retirement years.
Afghanistan is an inhospitable place that doesn't have inherent qualities such as a skilled population, high population density, logistics channels, shipping ports, or a geography amenable to developing the above. They could become a major minerals exporter (there's believed to be a lot of lithium in Afghanistan, for example) but that would, at best, make Afghanistan more like nearby wealthy oil states.
But what I do notice is that Germany, Japan, Korea and Vietnam were all able to break free from feelings of anger and grievance against past enemies. Iraq (and Afghanistan) are populations rife with religion-fuelled and religion-adjacent grievances, pointing internally and externally. Sadly I don't have optimism for change.
As I said before, I know very little about Iraq.
I wish people would have more empathy for Afghanistan instead of berating them.
They’ve just been through 20 years of foreign occupation and a decade of being used as a battlefield for a proxy war not long before that.
When I read removing fundamental woman's rights I thought you were talking about the Roe vs. Wade overturn.
Maybe them catching up to the 21st century should start with .. let’s stop malicious foreign intervention, so they have a chance.
I mean I guess it won't change anything if people do this, but it's just a bit disappointing to encounter it and remember the prevailing attitudes on Afghanistan and the casual dismissal of our own involvement there.
[0] - North Korea and Iran get similar treatment
The problem is, the miners can't be made to do this. It demands huge capital investment they have low to no motivation to fulfil.
This is a great point. My grandfather landed on Normandy Beach on D-Day. He told some stories, but not all of them. He also drove a VW Beetle for years with no shame. Swore by them in fact.
My hope for the future is economic cooperation. Best I know that’s the most effective force for peace.