By Roger McKinney
rmckinney@joplinglobe.com
PITTSBURG, Kan. — The war in Afghanistan was the focus of a conference Tuesday at Pittsburg State University.
The conference was titled “Terrorism, War and the Challenge Facing the U.S. in Afghanistan and Pakistan.” It was sponsored by the International Academic Affairs Committee, the department of history, the department of social sciences and the International Studies Program. It appeared that most of those in attendance were PSU students.
One of the questions to the panel of military officers was: “What is doable and what is not doable in Afghanistan?”
Army Maj. Paul Culberson, who has served in Iraq and Afghanistan, said Afghans value their families, their tribes and their ethnicity, but they don’t necessarily have a sense of country. He said a tribal elder was asked by an officer what his village needed, and the elder told the officer that he was the fourth person to have asked that question without having delivered anything.
Culberson said there can be no success in Afghanistan without cooperation from Pakistan.
“Until we take a stronger stance on the Pakistan issue, it will be difficult to be successful in Afghanistan,” he said.
Army Maj. Dave Conner, who has served in Iraq and Afghanistan, said success in Afghanistan won’t look like democracy in the U.S.
Army Maj. Nelson David, who has served in Afghanistan, disagreed with a questioner in the audience who said she doesn’t think the war in Afghanistan is winnable.
“We can win,” David said. “It’s going to take everyone, but we can win.”
Lt. Col. Mohammed Omari, with the Afghan army, said his country lacks even basic infrastructure. He said his country needs international support and good leadership.
Culberson said that in Kabul, the nation’s capital, there are malls with escalators, while in other areas of the country, people live in mud huts with no running water.
Army Maj. Nicholas Dickson, who has served in Iraq and Afghanistan, said that during operations in 2008 into remote valleys in Afghanistan, residents were surprised to see Americans. He said most people who live there never leave the valley during their lives.
Culberson said at no time in the history of the U.S. has the country asked more from such a small percentage of the population.
William Lambert, course director on Afghanistan at the U.S. Army’s Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, echoed the sentiment that most Americans haven’t sacrificed anything or even think about the war in Afghanistan. He said about half of 1 percent of the population is in the military.
“The vast, unwashed majority of Americans know very little” about the war, he said. “Our attention span is about two hours. That’s why football is as long as it is.”
