YEAH, WE CAN GO AHEAD AND GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE NOW

I remember back in the day when I got my first car. It was already old when I got it but I loved it so much that I tried to keep it going forever convinced that it would eventually attain this level of perfection if I just kept pumping money into it. Eventually it left me broke and stranded in a strange and distant place (Glendale) and I was forced to let it go.

Immediately after September 11^th I thought a military presence in Afghanistan made sense. Of course that was a decade ago. And like my car, Afghanistan was already old and dysfunctional when we bought it. Somewhere along the line the mission to capture or kill the people responsible turned into this bizarre experiment in nation-building. And how’s that going?

“An Afghan man killed his wife for giving birth to a third daughter rather than the son he’d hoped for, police said Monday.

The 28-year-old victim, who was known by the one name of Storai, was strangled by her husband — a local militia member — and his mother on Saturday, authorities said.

Storai had given birth to the couple’s third daughter three months ago in Mohasili village in Afghanistan’s northern Kunduz province.

Police said they arrested the victim’s mother-in-law in connection with her death, but Storai’s husband was still at large, likely sheltered by heavily-armed militia colleagues.” – MSNBC

I don’t want to dampen anyone’s optimism or anything. But, Afghanistan is starting to resemble the dangerously unstable frontier we found ten years ago. I can’t honestly see what kind of a lasting impact we’re going to have on this place. If, after ten years and billions of dollars, we haven’t had an effect on this culture then we’re never going to.

But, you know, sometimes what makes one great is their ability to admit mistakes. Not so much their willingness to run around throwing acid on people like villains in a third-rate horror movie.

“Violence against women is common in Afghanistan. In late November in the same province, an Afghan family that refused to give their daughter in marriage to a man they considered irresponsible was attacked at home by assailants who poured acid over both parents and three children.

Police later arrested the rejected suitor and his three brothers for the attack.”

Jesus, man. How fucking insecure are you if this is what you resort to instead of taking rejection like a grown man? I’ve been rejected plenty of times and the worst that happened were some tears and a few slashed tires. I never went all HOSTEL on an entire goddamn family. Then again I don’t live in a Stone Age shithole. So I guess I’m biased.

The acid-chucking part of a party is usually when I know it’s time to leave. And like my first car, no matter how badly we want it to work right it’s eventually going to fall to pieces. I think we pretty much got the people we came there to get and we shouldn’t continue this charade about building a better Afghanistan or some shit like that. Yeah, I think we should take anyone with us who wants to come. Then again I think we should do away with shaking hands and just punch each other in the face. So, what the fuck do I know?