NahnCee; I do have a higher standard for us. I worked with a squad of MP’s who were providing the training for ANP’s in southern Nuristan and northern Laghman Provinces. They, at one point, insisted on having a female soldier wanding village elders who were seeking entrance to the sub-governors compound where we were working. The local elders were seriously offended.

When I spoke to the MP squad leader, his response was, “She’s a soldier, they’ll have to get over it.”

No, they don’t. You see, they don’t have to impress us, because they didn’t ask us to come and fix them. They were not happy, they weren’t doing very well, but they didn’t beg us to invade their country. Nope.

We invaded their country to bring all the fruits and benefits of our western wisdom, democratic superiority, and economic prowess. Ummm… that and we wanted that Bin Laden guy.

Yes, we need to be better than the insurgents, and lots of Afghans are doing some pretty good things.

T.W. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) said: “It is better for them to do things tolerably than for you to do it perfectly for them.”

They do not have to impress us, although many of them, particularly my four soldiers who gave their lives and another who was shot through his head and will never be the same impressed this American by rising to the standard of being willing to risk their very lives for their country.

We need them to get it together more than they need us to fix it for them. They were suffering locally, but we are the ones with the global issue.

And yes, that does require that we hold ourselves to an unimpeachable standard.