Slate, 5 April 2021
Two quotes from AAN’s Thomas Ruttig in this analysis by the US magazine of the The Biden administration’s search “for a way to get out—and stay out—of Afghanistan.”
The first one on US co-responsibility for the current situation (ongoing and escalated war, not peace; high poverty levels instead of successful reconstruction) – and the US looking for a quick fix to finally get out:
“Again we are in this same pattern where it’s U.S. thinking and U.S. timetables that are determining what’s happening in Afghanistan,” says Thomas Ruttig, co-director of the Afghanistan Analysts Network. “It’s a bit like the U.S. government shedding responsibility for the china shop they have broken.”
The second arguing for a long, meaningful negotiations process instad of a quick fix:
“If you really want to address the internal problems in Afghanistan, you really need to sit down and have negotiations about the details,” says Ruttig. “It’s better than having a quick fix where we go home and everything starts anew and we have to deal with Afghanistan again in 10 years.”
Revisions:
This article was last updated on 6 Apr 2021
