The American people have been duped on Afghanistan. They have been told that a victory in Afghanistan would be a victory against terrorism, and that we are (by fighting the Taliban and providing billions in aid) making the lives of Afghan citizens better.
The first was never true. Even if we could win a victory in Afghanistan, which is increasingly doubtful, it would do nothing to stop worldwide terrorism. Terrorists don't need to control a country to exist and do their dirty work. They rely on secrecy, not government control -- and they can live and train in many other countries (moving from one location to another when things get too hot). Winning in Afghanistan would do nothing to curb this, unless we are also willing to invade, conquer, and occupy many other countries also (and only a fool would believe we are capable of doing that, even if it was politically possible).
Now these charts show us that we are also failing in the other mission -- to make the lives of Afghan citizens better. In fact, we are doing just the opposite of that. We are causing more Afghans to have to struggle to live, and even more to suffer. Notice that the longer we have stayed in that country, the less people are thriving (dropping now to 0%) and the more suffering is created (now up to 61% of the population, with the other 39% struggling to keep their heads above water).
Our mission in Afghanistan has been an abject failure -- and there is no reason to believe that would change by staying any longer. But that is exactly what the Pentagon, with the blessing of the president, wants to do. While some troops are supposed to pull out at the end of this month, thousands will stay -- and their stay will be open-ended (having no timetable for a complete withdrawal).
It is time to stop this nonsense, and bring ALL of our troops back home. Staying will accomplish nothing but to kill more soldiers and civilians, and cause more suffering.
The charts above were made from Gallup Polls taken between 2008 and 2014 of a random national sample of at least 1,000 Afghan citizens each year, and has a margin of error of 3.8 points.
