Bring The Troops Home

The downed helicopter last week with the loss of thirty Americans should prompt a serious re-evaluation of the commitment we have made in Afghanistan. It is nearly ten years now since the first American units put boots on the ground and helped rout the Taliban government there. Since then, we have installed and encouraged the Karzai government there, which, despite the passing of a decade, has not been able to consolidate its hold on the country.

The Karzai government did sign a deal for a natural gas pipeline to the benefit of American (and multi-national) companies if it is built, and we have sunk billions of dollars in Afghanistan, a considerable share of which has been wasted or stolen. So it's fair at this point to ask whether continued American presence there does more harm than good. If the Afghan government isn't capable of dealing with internal dissent by now, will it ever be?

The worst case scenario following American withdrawal is: the Taliban crushes Karzai's government and resumes its merciless rule. They allow or encourage al-Qaida to build training camps there and these are used to train militants for attacks against us in various places around the world.

That's grim at the very least, but how long are we willing to keep our soldiers there to prevent it when the decade they've already been there hasn't done the trick. At a time when the USA is experiencing huge budget deficits and our economy is in a lengthy period of doldrums, can we continue to pump so much of our economy into what looks more and more like a money sinkhole? More important, how many people, American and Afghan, will die to prolong the current stalemate?

The people of Afghanistan must make the hard choice to resist the Taliban or submit to them. The interests of the United States are best served by bringing our troops home from their country and from Iraq. Doing so will save lives and money and allow us to pursue political settlements throughout southwest Asia.

We owe it to the inhabitants of that tortured land to clean up after ourselves too. Removal of landmines and other equipment should be accomplished as part of the withdrawal or afterwards, perhaps under UN auspices.