(Defense Department photo of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan in 2011.)President Obama did not start the Afghan War. President Bush did that in October of 2001. But President Obama has senselessly continued the war. He told us back in 2008 that if we elected him, he would end the war in his first term. Now it's 2015, and there's still no end in sight -- even though it should have been apparent long ago that this is a "war" that we cannot win -- a nation-building effort that no non-Afghan military can win.
A few months back, President Obama once again assured us the the war is ending. He said that most U.S. troops would be out of that country by the end of this year -- leaving only a "few" troops (about 5,000) to train the Afghan army, and to fight "terrorism". And he assured us that those troops would be out by the end of 2016.
Now we learn that the president is once again going back on a promise. The new Afghan president (Ashraf Ghani) is justifiably afraid he cannot survive without U.S. troops propping up his government, so he has asked President Obama to leave more troops in that country for a longer period of time -- and the president has complied. President Obama now says he will leave double the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan past the end of year "deadline" (about 9,800). And he is strongly considering leaving them there past the end of 2016.
How long are we going to prop up the puppet government we put in place in Afghanistan? How long is it going to take us to realize that our nation-building effort has failed, and we are in a war that we cannot win? Are we going to keep fighting for many more years, killing civilians and U.S. soldiers, just so our current crop of politicians won't have to admit they gave us another Vietnam? When is enough going to be enough?
The American people seem to be unconcerned by our engagement in this endless war -- partly because they have become used to endless war, and partly because the news media is no longer reporting much about the insanity that is happening in Afghanistan. We are not defending our freedom in that war (because our freedom doesn't depend on what happens there). We're not even fighting terrorism there (which can be fought much more effectively by law enforcement, intelligence, and diplomacy). We are now there just to salve the pride of the politicians that started the war and continued it.
It is time for the public to raise some hell about this stupid and endless war -- and pressure our national politicians to end it. It is time to bring ALL of our troops back home.
