Afghanistan is now being called Obama's war, but unless the entire international community realises that this conflict is a global problem, it may be very difficult to bring even a semblance of normalcy to this troubled region.

THE United States has been criticised over the years for acting as if it were the world's policeman. US has had a mixed experience with nation-building or rebuilding. The Marshall Plan and subsequent reconstruction efforts in Germany and other parts of Europe after World War II is credited by many as saving Europe from a decent into anarchy. But after years of success on the battlefield, hubris set in and the US was forced to learn a very costly lesson about trying to remake nations in the quagmire of the Vietnam War.

Looking back at the first Persian Gulf War, many today credit the first president Bush with foresight for understanding the Limitations of US military power and not invading Iraq after the liberation of Kuwait. In trying to strike a balance between saving the world and not overtaxing the country, former US president Bill Clinton chose to intervene in one European conflict and refrain from interfering in an African one.

Today, there is a three-metre gold statue of Bill Clinton in the newly independent Republic of Kosovo, while Clinton himself has admitted that his failure to act in Rwanda was possibly one of the worst decisions of his entire presi-

dency.

Many Americans believe that former US president George W. Bush had no choice but to order troops into Afghanistan. Led by the Taliban totalitarian regime, which imposed a perverted version of strict Islamic law on its people, this failed state also willingly harboured terrorists who had directly attacked US, killing some 3,000 innocent civilians on one terrible morning.

Former president Bush's decision to send troops into Iraq, however, will likely go down in the history books as one of the worst policy decisions by a US president. In short, it's hard to get foreign wars that involve nation-building right.

Today, US President Barack Obama is winding down operations in Iraq while quite possibly boosting troop levels in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is now being called Obama's war, but unless the entire international community realises that this conflict is a global problem, it may be very difficult to bring even a semblance of normalcy to this troubled region.

For those of us in Taiwan, accustomed to the strict confines of an island nation, the idea of a porous border is a little hard to fathom. There is no place where Pakistan ends and Afghanistan begins, except on paper.

For its part, Afghanistan has not had a stable government of any kind for decades. To be fair to the US, if any nation could be blamed for the current situation in Afghanistan it's the former USSR. The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, destroyed much of the nation's functioning infrastructure and activated tribal militias, laying the framework for today's crisis. US isn't blameless, however, having supplied the anti-Soviet rebels with weapons, and when the conflict was over, unfortunately forgot about the people and those weapons.

Osama bin Laden is a direct descendent of these terrible decisions.

For all the chaos in Iraq, that nation was still one that had a solid basic infrastructure. Iraq had running water, sewage and sanitation facilities, hospitals, roads

and an educated population. Much of this was destroyed or damaged in the Iraq war. But because the framework exists, reconstruction was a much easier undertaking. Afghanistan has none of the above.

Nations all around the world are watching the US's battle for Afghanistan. Some continue to accuse the US of imperialism. Others criticise the methodology. But few, aside from Great Britain, have actually done anything to contribute. The world needs to understand that the extremists in the Afghan-Pakistan area constitute one of die biggest heads on the terrorist Hydra. Cutting off this head would result in a serious blow to other fanatics in places such as India, Thailand, the Philippines and even China.

US and a few allies have been fighting there for over eight years. The American public has no more energy for an expensive conflict, especially if it seems endless. Obama seems less inclined to invoke the "with-us-or-against-us" demand made by his predecessor. but a consensus seems to be

growing that the rest of the world needs step up to the plate.

Obama's political team may have stopped using the term "war on terror," but the reality is US military is trying to defeat Islamic extremists that are overwhelmingly responsible for inspiring the sorrow and carnage many nations of the world have suffered over the past decade.

China has been singled out for criticism as it has business and commercial interests in Afghanistan and the surrounding area, but is loath to actually join the fight against extremism. For political reasons, it's unlikely that China will be sending any troops anywhere soon, but every nation in the world needs to get in on tliis fight. Those who can send troops should do so. Others can contribute money or provide other assistance. America isn't perfect, but what's the rest of the world doing to help defeat extremism?

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