Maddow: "The hard choice in Afghanistan" (with video)

Rachel Maddow with video from MSNBC (09:27)

The consequences of there not being a real Afghan government are probably dire. Our desire for there to be a real Afghan government is strong and rational. But us just wanting it to be so does not mean that we are capable of making it so. To me, it seems likely that nothing we can do -- nothing within our power as the United States of America -- will result in there being a real Afghan government. Our presence there may in fact make that outcome less likely.

What government can grow to full strength and legitimacy with a foreign military on its soil?

What hope is there for the government to supersede the warlords and drug lords and powerbrokers it competes with if the billions of dollars a month our military presence drags behind it like cans off newlyweds' car bumpers get funneled to those same thugs the government's competing with?

What better way for us to recruit for and romanticize the Taliban cause than to give them 10 years of armor-clad infidel foreigners on their land, to inveigh against and to attack? A real Afghan government is the outcome we want for us and for the Afghan people. It is practically inarguable as a desired outcome. But whether or not that outcome is achieved is not really up to us. MORE...

Howie P.S.: Our Congressman appears to agree: "McDermott Breaks with Dems, Obama on War. Again" (Publicola).