RID U.S. FOREIGN POLICY OF MILITARY FORCE

We need a whole rethinking of U.S. foreign policy, specifically where it comes to military force. Currently the U.S. maintains military bases in over 100 countries. The thinking is that the U.S. is the enforcer of American values and interests throughout the world. No wonder most of the world's population dislikes America and has a negative view of Americans.

Number one problem that must be changed is the U.S. policy towards Afghanistan. To think that military force can re-make or pacify Afghanistan is pure fiction without any basis in reality. Any peace in that troubled country will come from negotiation and compromise, and such negotiation must of necessity include the Taliban who are mostly Pashtun.

Afghanistan is comprised of tribal groups, such as the Uzbeks, the Tajiks, the Hazaras, the Turkmen, the Qizilbash and the Pastun. The Taliban are mostly Pastun. So the Taliban's interests are not only religious but also involve Afghani tribal politics.

There is no way that the U.S. is going to win hearts and minds of Afghanis, no matter of what tribal affiliation, with its current policy of dropping bombs and firing lethal rockets on Afghan villages and homes from war planes. That approach results in the deaths of mostly Afghan civilians and innocent families. Of course, the U.S. military loves to recite how many "terrorists" it killed through such a destructive approach, but upon inspection, the dead incinerated bodies reveal women and children and mostly poor agrarian farmers.

Imagine if you had your child killed by an American rocket or bomb, how you would feel towards the Americans.

The current U.S. military policy, no matter the claims for "terrorists" killed, is cruel as well as counterproductive.

Military force will never obtain U.S. objectives nor will it ever protect "American interests."

The first step must be the grounding of all U.S. bombers and war planes in Afghanistan. A second step would be to officially recognize the futility of imposing U.S. foreign policy by military force.