Past polls have shown that most Afghans would like for the United States to end its occupation of their country, and just leave. Now there is growing evidence that the Afghan government would like the same thing. Just a couple of weeks ago, President Karzai demanded that U.S. troops leave the Afghan province of Wardak -- claiming those troops were using Afghans to torture and kill people.He has also claimed that U.S. troops enter Afghan universities and arrest students, and has barred those troops from even entering the campus of any university. Now he has insinuated that the U.S. and the Taliban are somehow in cahoots to keep our troops in Afghanistan beyond 2014. He said:
"Those bombs that went off in Kabul and Khost were not a show of force to America. They were in service of America. It was in the service of the 2014 slogan to warn us if they (Americans) are not here then Taliban will come."
"In fact those bombs, set off yesterday in the name of the Taliban, were in the service of Americans to keep foreigners longer in Afghanistan."
It is a silly argument to say the U.S. and the Taliban are working in concert to extend U.S. troop involvement in Afghanistan, but it does give us a clearer view of what President Karzai wants (although he seems to be reluctant to come right out and say it). Like the majority of his people, he wants the American troops out of his country.
The United States has said the U.S. troops will leave Afghanistan at the end of 2014. But that is not really accurate. The U.S. wants to keep as many as 18,000 U.S. soldiers in that country for "training purposes". The thing that might prevent that is the U.S. demand that those troops left in Afghanistan would be immune from prosecution by that country -- regardless of what crime they might commit.
It was that same kind of demand that forced all U.S. troops out of Iraq, because the Iraqi government refused to agree to that immunity. It is now starting to look like the Afghans might also deny that immunity, as Karzai becomes ever more critical of U.S. involvement.
I think it's time to give the Afghan government and people what they want. It's time to end the occupation of Afghanistan and bring ALL of the United States troops home.
Some will say that would just let the Taliban take over again. But that is a matter for the Afghan people to decide. If they want to live under Taliban rule, they will allow the Taliban to take control. If they don't, they will back their government and keep that from happening. Either way, it is a choice for the Afghan people to make -- not the United States government.
It is time for our government (whether a Democrat or Republican sits in the White House) to realize that we have no business telling any other country what kind of government they should have or who they should pick to run that government. We would not allow any foreign government to dictate that to us, so we must not do it to others.
