More Problems In Afghanistan

There's more bad news coming out of Afghanistan.   It's bad enough that the war is not going well and most of the officers fighting there believe the United States will not be able to meet it's withdrawal timetable.   Every time the U.S. troops clear one area and move to another, the Taliban fighters move back in.   It's like playing whack-a-mole with an inexhaustible supply of moles.

Now the Afghans have another election coming up -- this time it's a parliamentary election.   At the time of the last election (the presidential election), the people of Afghanistan had barely a majority believing in the government -- with 49% saying they had no faith in the government.   It's easy to see why.   Not only is the Afghan government totally incapable of controlling any territory outside of the capital city (and sometimes can't even do that very well), but it is rife with corruption -- a corruption they don't even really try to hide very much.

And this is the government the United States is trying to protect and keep in power.   But while half of the country had no faith in the government at the time of the last election, it has now gotten much worse.   The latest poll of Afghan citizens by the Gallup organization shows that the number that don't trust the government has now climbed to 67%, and many of the country's voters may just stay home in this latest election.

Those are some pretty bad numbers, especially for a government trying to conduct a war.   In most countries at war the citizens generally back their government's attempt to survive.   But it is obvious that the citizens of Afghanistan no longer believe in either the competence or the honesty of their government.   A government with that little support and an armed insurgency is unlikely to survive after the foreign troops propping up the government leave the country.

This is the government that the United States troops are fighting and dying to keep in power.   It's looking more and more each day that the sacrifice our troops are making is going to be in vain.   The Afghan people know this is not a government worth saving.   It's time for the leaders of this country to figure that out.   Why must we keep on sacrificing our brave soldiers for a corrupt government that cannot survive?   Isn't that the same thing we did in Vietnam?

America's political leaders seem to be incapable of learning from history (to the detriment of our troops and our economy).   It's time to withdraw all our troops and bring them home.   Delaying that will only cost more lives and accomplish nothing.