Your Turn
September 23rd, 2009 | Editorial Cartoons | 8 Comments
Tweet
President Obama announced the other day that he is still studying his options before committing more troops to the war in Afghanistan. None of his options are all that appealing. Afghanistan is starting to look eerily like Vietnam: a weak, corrupt government, an entrenched and resolute enemy, difficult terrain, and a lack of popular support both in Afghanistan and in the United States for what looks to be a long and potentially unwinnable war. Choose carefully, Mr. President.
Topics: Afghan policy, Afghan war, Afghanistan, military, Obama, Penatgon, Taliban
E-mail
Facebook
RSS
Twitter
Unfortunately, the option of simply leaving means a return to what? Destruction of world heritage sites, conversion of the Kabul soccer pitch into an execution square for prostitutes, people so poor they sold the roofs off of their houses, and providing a base for world-wide terrorism. Karzai may be a crook, but Mohammed Omar is a murdering thug.
“Destruction of heritage sites”?
While I truly sympathize with the Afghan poor and prostitutes, I’m having real difficulty comprehending that those are reasons for our troops to be there. I’m also not sure that the base for world-wide terrorism can only be handled by our soldiers’ boots on the ground.
It is time for us to leave there and Iraq. The sooner the better.
Some people just don’t get it. They say “I truly sympathize” but do they really, would they actually be willing to do something to help, or would they be more concerned about “how does that affect ME?” We have ignored world problems for Far too long and it has bit us in the A$$. War is almost never the answer but sometimes it is necessary to improve conditions for those that can’t do it without help. Your number of supporters in other countries is directly proportional to how you treat people. Those people need help and we are the ones in best position to help. Should we just abandon them because it is expensive and unpopular? NO!!! If we can help them and give them the opportunity to help themselves with REAL elections and education for ALL, *(I truly believe that education is Key), then we could have a very important ally in a very difficult part of the world. We have made far too many enemies in the past with our ‘It’s Your Problem!” attitude and we need all the allies we can get in that part of the world. Unfortunately it will take having troops there until they can take care of their security issues on their own. Nation building is not easy and is Very expensive but it must be done! If we let the Taliban and Bin Laden win we will end up fighting them on American soil and we will be doing it without any help from that part of the world.
P.S. – I believe the invasion of Afghanistan was the right thing to do but the invasion of Iraq was wrong. That said, I believe that since we are there we should finish the job!
There are lots of ways to help people. I’m not sure that sending our troops into their country is really one of them. After 8 years, I’m also not sure how much more of our help they can take. I believe it’s debatable whether they are better off today.
“Nation building must be done”? Let’s see, there are about 7 billion people in over 190 countries. I would venture a guess that over 1/2 of those countries and 3/4 of the people are in need of help. This isn’t a matter of being expensive, it’s like raking leaves in the fall. We are a country that can’t even provide health care to its own. Besides, we do help. We spend billions on aid and there are many NGOs and charities like the Gates Foundation all over the world truly helping people.
I’m also really tired of hearing the cliche that we need to fight them there or we will end up fighting them here. All we are doing there is creating more of “them” who want to fight us here.
Leaving them to fight the Taliban and Bin Laden on their own is Definately Not the answer!!!
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaadf d
If the people of that country will not fight the fight then we need to get out. Learn from the past. That country has not changed in a thousand years/ let them fight the fight or live the way they want to. We have no interest there other than drugs. Maybe that is why we are there? The enemy is a ghost they are every where. We had one in our own Army remember. This is not about a conventional war. This is Politics if you bring all the national guard home and release them back into regular life the unemployment figures go up again. We do not have jobs for these troops other than to be world police right now.
As for the old if we do not fight them there we will fight them here, That is a load of horse hocky. We are fighting them here Now.