(The image above is from the website of the National Guard.)President Obama originally told Americans that he would be pulling American troops out of Afghanistan by the end of this year. He didn't really mean that though, and wanted to leave thousands of American troops in that country (as trainers and to fight terrorism) -- possibly as long as another 10 years (the end of 2024). But to do that he needs the Afghan government to sign an agreement asking U.S. troops to stay. That agreement would be necessary to protect American troops from being tried by an Afghan court for any crime they might commit against the Afghan people.
The United States says it will not leave any troops in Afghanistan after December of 2014 without that signed agreement. Near the end of 2013, President Obama warned the Afghan president (who had been refusing to sign the agreement) that the agreement must be signed by the end of 2013 or all troops would be withdrawn -- thinking that deadline would push President Karzai to sign the agreement.
Now we are nearly two months into 2014, and President Obama is still trying to pressure the Afghans into signing the agreement -- ignoring his own deadline. Just a few days ago, President Obama once again issued that same threat in a phone call to President Karzai, and the White House issued the following statement:
"President Obama told President Karzai that because he has demonstrated that it is unlikely that he will sign the BSA (Bilateral Security Agreement), the United States is moving forward with additional contingency planning. "Specifically, President Obama has asked the Pentagon to ensure that it has adequate plans in place to accomplish an orderly withdrawal by the end of the year should the United States not keep any troops in Afghanistan after 2014. "Furthermore, the longer we go without a BSA, the more likely it will be that any post-2014 US mission will be smaller in scale and ambition." It is becoming very obvious that President Obama does not want to honor his promise to the American people, or his threat to the Afghan government. He (and the Pentagon generals) want to continue indefinitely this ridiculous and ineffective occupation of Afghanistan -- a war which is already in its thirteenth year. And it now looks like the refusal of President Karzai to sign the agreement is all that is preventing this endless war from continuing for many more years.
It should be noted that American troops would probably still be in Iraq too, if the Iraqis hadn't refused to sign the same kind of agreement. We can only hope that President Karzai has that same kind of guts, and refuses to sign the agreement. That seems to be the only way to get American troops out of Afghanistan.
Poll after poll has shown that a majority of the American people think the Afghan war was a mistake, and they want all of the troops to be withdrawn. It's just sad that President Obama won't honor his own promise and deadline, and that we must depend on a foreign president to get us out of Afghanistan.
