More Proof Its Time To Leave Afghanistan

The war in Afghanistan has now dragged on for more than 10 years, and there's still no end in site. The president has announced a small reduction of troops stationed in the occupation of that country, but there is no plan to have all U.S. troops out for at least another two and a half years (the end of 2014) -- and there is talk of leaving troops in that country even longer.

This makes no real sense. If we have been unable to pacify that country in ten years, why should we think another few years will make any difference? At this point, does anyone really believe a military victory can be achieved there? That's not only doubtful, but recent actions in that country show that we may actually be making more enemies in Afghanistan than friends.

So far this year, there have been 46 American service members killed in Afghanistan. It would be bad enough if these were all casualties of enemy combatants, but they weren't. At least 16 of these killings (about 35%) were by Afghan security forces. That's right, our "friends" -- the troops we are training to take over if we ever leave. It seems that our soldiers can't even trust the troops they are training.

It is becoming obvious that the longer we stay (to prop up the corrupt government we installed), the more enemies we make. We already know that a majority of Americans would like to see an immediate withdrawal of all American troops from Afghanistan. It's time our government stopped dreaming of a magical military victory and brought our troops home. To do otherwise is to deny reality (and cause more deaths of both Americans and Afghanis unnecessarily).