Afghanistan: The Just War

A friend said at lunch today that American troops should be proud for their service keeping America safe. The non-existent War on Terrorism was, and is, being fought over there instead of here. He is right. God bless our troops.

But like it or not, wars are political. The Mideast wars are no different. How much can we expect of our troops before they snap? Case and point, the master sergeant who lost it and went on a killing rampage in Afghanistan this past week. This followed several weeks of violent protests and threats by the Islamists because of the accidental burning of two copies of the Koran used by prisoners to pass messages. We have since found out that this soldier had already served three tours in Iraq, and sustained a head injury on the last tour before being sent to Afghanistan. I know very little about the military, but am I the only one who wonders how this guy was sent on four tours of duty in a war zone over a relative short period of time?

This begs the bigger question. What are we doing there? Obama criticized Bush during the last presidential election because of the war in Iraq. Obama said Afghanistan was the right war...the just war. We were in Iraq because intelligence accepted by the entire world showed Saddam Hussein was harboring weapons of mass destruction. We didn’t find any, and there is strong evidence that they were spirited out of the country into Syria during the worthless political kabuki dance in the United Nations. But at least we had a reason. And don't be surprised the world doesn't find some of these weapons during the course of the Syrian civil war.

We also had a reason in Afghanistan. The Taliban provided safe harbor to Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda thugs. The first battle of the 21st century was a cavalry charge in northern Afghanistan. Unbelievable! But over the years, Al Qaeda has been just about neutralized, and Osama bin Laden is dead.

The Taliban is another story. These folks are a bunch of religious zealots fed by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. There is an infinite supply of Taliban. The Russians with 400,000 plus troops couldn’t defeat these guys. What makes Obama think he can? Obama has already announced we are pulling out with a date specific. And that is going to make the Afghani good guys, such as they are, snuggle up to us? They have already bought their plane tickets to Miami.

Obama has failed to define what the objective is in Afghanistan. How does he define victory? He can’t. And to be frank, I don’t blame him because it is unwinnable. Since he already has announced a full withdrawal date, he might as well pack up the machine guns and come home now before more people lose their lives in a struggle that he can’t define, can't be won, and already has a termination date. What’s the point of dragging this on any longer?

Through the Bush years and now the Obama years, I suggested that the United States lease a large portion of land and establish a major military base like Guantanamo in Cuba just to keep our eyes on things in case they get any more ideas about blowing up some of our buildings. Then to paraphrase Newt Gingrich, let the Afghan people alone to live their own miserable lives.