It’s time to end the war in Afghanistan
Soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment provide security near their armored vehicle in Afghanistan on Sept. 21, 2018, nearly 17 years after the conflict began. (Spc. Christopher Bouchard/Army)
To mark the 17th anniversary of the war in Afghanistan, Rep. Ruben Gallego wants to finally end the conflict.
Gallego, D-Ariz. and a Marine Corps veteran who served in combat in Iraq, has been a vocal critic of the “perpetual war” in the recent years. In a statement this weekend, he said military and political leaders need to find a way to put a stop to America’s longest military fight.
“It’s clear that continuing on the current course is not in our national interest,” he said. “American troops should come home.
“Our objectives following (the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks) were to destroy al-Qaida, kill Osama bin Laden, and prevent a recurrence of an ungoverned space in Afghanistan that allowed for terrorists to plot and plan attacks on Americans and our allies. We accomplished all of those objectives years ago.”
Hmm…and end to the conflict? I don’t think that is actually up to us. The idiotic Obama promised an end to the conflict. His cowardice led to unspeakable acts of violence the region had never seen.
At an appearance before the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in July, President Donald Trump said U.S. forces “for the first time in years are making a lot of progress in Afghanistan” because of recent changes by his administration in U.S. strategy there. That included an increase in the number of American troops in the country.
Gallego said any withdrawal of troops must be done “responsibly” but also without additional delays.
“Over the past 17 years, almost 25,000 Americans have been killed or wounded in Afghanistan. Many thousands more bear the mental and emotional scars of combat,” Gallego said.
“We must remember their sacrifice as we seek the best interests of our country, which involves the return of their comrades still in Afghanistan to their friends, family, and a grateful nation.”
Operation Enduring Freedom launched on Oct. 7, 2001, in response to the al-Qaida attacks in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania a month earlier.
Category: Politics
Seventeen years old.
One more year and we can legally say fuck it and screw.
Seventeen years is like the blink of an eye in the history of warfare. The Iberian Religious Wars (the Reconquista) spanned 781 years (711-1492). Christian kingdoms fought the Muslim Moors for control over the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) in a long series of battles. Let’s keep an historical persepctive before doing anything hasty like bugging out of Afghanistan – especially before the mid-term elections.
PS Some sarcasm is intended.
“especially before the mid-term elections.”
You’ve provided the exact reason why this guy is saying this right now…
Vegas over/under line has Afghanistan going back to the Taliban about 2.5 seconds after the last US troops leave.
It’s the fucked up ROE we’ve had for the last decade that has turned that place to warm runny shit.
It’s a sad fact that declaring a unilateral peace only works if you are the sole survivor.
David, I like that thought. Let us become the only survivor there, and that might well solve that problem. If all the muzzie terrorists and their supporters are dead, that is one less problem in that region.
If we have no intention of doing something positive he’s not wrong in suggesting it’s time to get out.
Truth be told who gives a fuck what happens there as long as it doesn’t come here? There’s not a single American military life worth wasting in that shithole, there never was. When we discovered there was a problem with them hiding the killers from 9-11 there we should have napalmed the entire country and left a smoldering pile of ash in our wake. You can’t build democracy there and you can’t change a thousand years of tribal lifestyle without a massive, expensive occupation. Who pays for that?
This GWOT has basically encouraged the government to further encroach on our personal freedoms under the guise of “national security” without returning any real security.
I’m good with burning nations to the ground when they send some citizens here to do harm, but not so good with getting young Americans killed in some idiotic occupation with shitty ROEs and no actual long term plan to force new constitutions and new governments. Our politically correct occupation doesn’t serve our nation’s interests at all. So why be there?
It’s 2,500++ years, VOV, and you can’t change their inbred mentality. They don’t want to change. Let them rot.
I’m not military. Just a person interested in military matters.
As a citizen and a taxpayer I am against perpetual war in Afghanistan.
It seems like no matter how many billions we spend there the Afghan government is too corrupt and incompetent to win.
In fact, it seems like the Taliban are gaining ground, especially in the north of the country.
With a sanctuary over the border in Pakistan for rest, resupply and financing, it seems impossible to win even if we use Soviet scorched earth tactics.
Secretary of Defense Mattis is a genius, but I don’t see a way for him to extricate us without a permanent presence there.
The Afghan government will fall very soon after we leave whether we leave in 2 years or 2 decades.
Maybe we could just use contractors like Blackwater/ Academi and limit the spending.
I am in favor of getting out and using the money to build President Trumps wall.
Please clear up one point. When I was on active duty a person, with no military connections at all, told my friends and me she objected, as a taxpayer, to what my unit was doing. She honestly did not know GI’s pay taxes. It’s a minor point in your post; but, do you know GI’s pay taxes?
Of course soldiers pay taxes
And vote.
I am careful here not to comment here on areas where I have no expertise.
But all Americans should take part in the national discussion on whether the U.S. should stay in Afghanistan for generations to come.
Or to pay contractors to do the fighting if staying there is in our national interest.
Or just get out of the graveyard of empires.
Here’s a thought – you want to end the war? Decide you want to win, change to ROE, take the leash off your much bigger, meaner junkyard dogs and let them do what they do best. If you’re not willing to do what it takes to kick the crap out of the goat rapers once and for all then maybe it is time to quit propping up a failing government. They want to live like the 7th century? Fine, let them. They want to kill each other like it’s the national passtime? I’m good with that too, as long as they keep their mess over there. There’s always that spillover from their mess that manages to find its’ way into other places like a leaking cesspool. So let’s just go with the first option, take the leash off and let the dogs run wild until they either beg for mercy or the last one gets sent to hell.
As in Roman times, Oderint Dum Metuant*….I like your first option as well…burn the whole fucking place to the ground and leave nothing but memories behind.
*Let Them Hate, So Long As They Fear
I was told that we have quite a conundrum on how to safely maintain, or dispose of decades old nukes… it seems that this would be a perfect place to do so.. a win-win you might say..
There has never, ever been any real peace in the Middle East, an that includes Afghanistan.
Afghanistan: A Military History from Alexander the Great to the War against the Taliban by Stephen Tanner:
For over 2,500 years, the forbidding territory of Afghanistan has served as a vital crossroads for armies and has witnessed history-shaping clashes between civilizations: Greek, Arab, Mongol, and Tartar, and, in more recent times, British, Russian, and American. When U.S. troops entered Afghanistan in the weeks following September 11, 2001, they overthrew the Afghan Taliban regime and sent the terrorists it harbored on the run. But America’s initial easy victory is in sharp contrast to the difficulties it faces today in confronting the Taliban resurgence.
When you have hill tribes with craftsmen who can copy ANY WEAPON BROUGHT TO THEM, and who have millenia of experience chasing outsiders out of their turf, you either learn when it’s time to pack it in and leave, or you waste lives and energy and money trying to bring them to heel.
If the Soviets couldn’t do it, left behind over 1,000,000 dead Afghans and had a body count of 15,000 dead troops after 10 years of trying to absorb Afghanistan into the USSR, and went broke doing so, then what is the point of continuing to pound your head on that stone wall?
When is this going to sink in?
It would make a whole lot more sense to fence them in and let them have their stupid tribal wars and kill each other off. Even dropping nukes on them wouldn’t work.
I’ve read that book and it’s excellent. Thanks for pointing that out. I need to read it again.
The book also points out that Afghanistan have never been loyal to any central government and never will be, especially since their loyalties are tribal. It’s been like that for thousand of years and isn’t going to suddenly change.
I will get a copy. It looks interesting to me.
17 years and where did the time go.
I spent 2.5 of my 20 active duty years in Afghanistan. I believe we need to change course…
No amount of American blood and treasure will ever convert Afghanistan into a stable democracy with a legitimate economy and basic human rights. The minute we leave, the Taliban and their affiliates will return Afghanistan back to what it had always been, a tribal nearly stone-age shithole. That said, the US can never allow a place for terrorist training camps and safe haven again.
I propose we negotiate with the Taliban. We offer the following deal: the US will remove our boots in the ground and look the other way from your inevitable human rights violations. We will, however, monitor every square yard of your country with drones and satellites. If we see what appears to be a military training camp that you have not previously disclosed to us, we will obliterate it from the sky. If an attack occurs on any US territory, US citizens, or our allies, and evidence points to Afghanistan, we will obliterate every government structure in the country.
But, if you (the Taliban) agree – we can coexist.
The time has come for a change – it is in the US interest.
Their belief system makes it impossible for them to coexist with anyone.
Just wanted to point that out.
Gosh the CGSC study we did oh, nearly ten years ago to turn Afghanistan in to Switzerland did not bear fruit. Nor all the other classes that did the same.
I’ll say what I said then. This isn’t a case of “winning”. This is a case of keeping those that hate our country from having a safe place and resources to plan more attacks. The price of failure is another 9/11 event or worse.
No one with any form of respect for the job so fare being well done, wants to see another Vietnam. That was the war the Politicians discredited us with. Promises made then broken when the need for survival came.
This will never end till you make it clear to those who threaten us, that if you attack or threaten the US in the future, your descendants will curse your memory for the actions you caused America to inflict upon your land and people.
Only when the pain, death and suffering is so bad that peace is the only viable option will this end. But we have not had leaders with the clarity of vision nor fortitude of spirit to understand this simple truth.
Hence we blunder on sacrificing the flower of our youth to the whims of poltroons, knaves, and fools.
What was that they said to us (the Taliban)? “You own the watches…we own the time..”. That region has swallowed up entire armies just by letting the weather and their backwards horrific culture rot the spirit and confidence of whomever thought they could get a handle on the issues there. I admire Gen Mattis immensely, did two pumps there myself. Agree that an ungoverned failed state adjacent to Pakistan is a terrible risk. To Mad Dog and friends…. “please assess, advise and quit allowing our young’ens to die over there for nothing “.
Afghanistan is where God Comes to Cry
CAPT Bones USN (ret)
“Our objectives following (the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks) were to destroy al-Qaida, kill Osama bin Laden, and prevent a recurrence of an ungoverned space in Afghanistan that allowed for terrorists to plot and plan attacks on Americans and our allies. We accomplished all of those objectives years ago.”
Sorry, but we only accomplished one of those three.
1) “ungoverned space”? Still some in Afghanistan, and increasing. Also “ungoverned space” exists now in Somalia, Yemen, Niger, etc. And don’t forget that the US, although it is a “governed space”, was where the attackers lived, trained, reconnoitered their targets, and did a lot of the detailed planning.
2) “destroy al-Qaida”? Which one? We now have, in addition to the original one, a number of branch “al-Qaidas”. Not to mention the various other Islamic groups.
Other than that, I agree with him; time to get out. “The game is not worth the candle”.
“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.”
Perhaps ‘serenity’ is not the best word to use in the case of Afghanistan, but the last line is spot on.
While Americans were spilling their blood in Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai’s brother, Qayum Karzai was operating a restaurant (The Helmand) in Baltimore. Think about it and then go and puke.