I’d love for Obama to be able to run as the President who ended three wars. I’m assuming that Libya will be a success before November 2012 and that Iraq will wind down as the treaty specifies.
That leaves us with Afghanistan. Why are we still in Afghanistan? After ten years, what more can we achieve that is worth the loss of American life? There are fewer than 100 Al Queda members in the country. We are fighting the Taliban, who are the natives. We cannot outlast them.
We also cannot defeat them militarily.
Let’s start with basics – why are we in Afghanistan? Because the poorest country on the planet rented some property to Bin Laden and he built a training camp there. Afghanistan didn’t attack us – Bin Laden did.
Our response was to intervene in a civil war, taking the side of the Northern Alliance (which controlled about 10% of the country) and using them to defeat the Taliban. We caught some terrorists and ran off almost all of the rest.
Since then, we have been continuing the civil war. The Taliban is the military arm of the Pashtun people, who reside in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The people that we’re trying to convince to fight the Taliban are their brothers and sisters. The government in Kabul is mostly Northern Alliance, their enemy. The Taliban are focused on the Near Enemy; one of their problems with Bin Laden was that he was focused on the Far Enemy – the USA.
But how does the poorest country on the planet militarily defeat the richest, most powerful country on the planet? Easy.
Every vehicle that goes from Kabul to Kandahar pays $1800 for safe transit. In other words, we pay the Taliban hundreds of millions of dollars to escort our supply convoys, and they know where every unit is and precisely what provisions they have. IF the Taliban stop letting our supplies through, how long would our troops last? Days?
We’re being played. Bring the troops home now. And save a few bucvks.
Bring home all of the troops by November 2010. Run as the President who Won Three Wars – or at least the President that Ended Three Wars.