I’m wondering if the US President is using any of his familiarity with the African continent to call upon a region therein to assist in the efforts in Afghanistan.
It might be shrewd of us to ask the secretary of state to call upon African partners in this effort. Many African countries, being of Muslim majority, surely have a role to play in keeping peace with the US, and keeping peace among those who share their faith, in Afghanistan; and, of curtailing weapons and drug trafficking from Afghanistan. I will be doing a bit of investigating of African countries, for my own knowledge, to see just who might be fitting to be called upon for aid in Afghanistan. [2014: No volunteers stepped forward.] It seems that some African countries might like the opportunity and might be well equipped to play a role in shaping peace in Afghanistan right now… not in two years’ time, or later, but now. [Update: France’s successful intervention in Mali has reminded me that as much as I wished for moderate Muslims in Africa to contribute in Afghanistan, there is simply too much persecution against Christians there. Furthermore, some African States are in upheaval and revolution as we’ve come to see. Some areas are also ruled out, as there is terrorist sympathy in many of those regions. Not so in all of Africa – it is a large continent, but much of Africa does not seem like a good partner against the Taliban or Al-Qaida, who are clearly anti-Christian groups. While not every soldier of the coalition in Afghanistan claims to be a Christian, there are likely not any Muslim terrorist sympathizers among them. And coalition of such sort would make for strange bed-fellows.]