What About Afghanistan?

A new Rasmussen poll released Thursday shows 59% of Americans want our Troops home from Afghanistan within a year, with 28% opposing a firm timetable. 

With such a lopsided number, why isn’t there a bigger push to bring our Troops home?  Why doesn’t the President bring the Troops home like he promised?  Why isn’t it one of the hot topics in the GOP presidential race? 

The answer to all those questions is pretty simple.  First, jobs and the economy will rule the spotlight until they improve.  And second, as a nation we can’t afford to fail in Afghanistan.   That is one thing the President has realized since he took office and quite frankly most GOP candidates have been saying.  If the president had pulled all our Troops out in his first three years in office we simply would have failed in Afghanistan, something he didn’t realize during his presidential campaign.  Now he understands but has yet to sell it to the American public. 

Seeing Afghanistan first hand, I will tell you why we can’t afford to fail and that what we are doing is working.

Failure would be allowing the ability of terrorist groups to use Afghanistan as a breeding ground as it was prior to September 11, 2001.  There is no doubt in my mind that there are still people in that country (and neighboring countries) that have the resources and want to attack American soil again.  Simply put, we leave now and they have the ability to go back to their pre-2001 days. 

We all know that American troops cannot be there forever but patience, yes lots of patience is a virtue.  The counterinsurgency strategy emphasized by the former top commanders in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal and General David Petraeus  is working (sorry Rolling Stone and MoveOn.org but all you did was lambaste great American military leaders). 

The overwhelming majority of Afghans I talked with was in favor of having American troops in their country but is scared of what the Taliban still has the power to do, or should I say the power to do once we leave.  The counterinsurgency strategy emphasizes the development of an Afghan government and the ability for the country to defend and police itself.  This is much different than most military strategies of the past.  But seeing first hand villagers gathering in local government meetings and rejecting Taliban propaganda gives me some hope.  Seeing educated and extremely competent young men in their military with a sense of Afghan national pride gives me lots of hope.

Furthermore, the strategy calls for our troop involvement in all the aspects aforementioned, highlighted by them living in small combat outposts near local population centers.  And of course when need be winning kinetic battles as well as propaganda battles against the Taliban.  To a lot of Afghans the Taliban is seen as a second option for authority, behind the current Afghan government headed by President Hamid Karzai, albeit the Afghans know this second option rules by intimidation, fear and violence.  So in a country that has seen nothing but leadership change and power struggles throughout its history, I am hopeful the people will choose the peaceful government and reject the Taliban. 

There probably won’t be any iconic moments or any V-T Day (T for Taliban that is) to end the war.  In the end a “not a failure” headline will be more likely than any “victory” headline.  A lot also rides on other factors such as how well an Afghan economy and education progress over the years.  But I see hope in Afghanistan and a real threat from the Taliban if we leave.  I am part of that 28%. 

The writer is a member of the James Caldwell American Legion Post 185 and an Afghanistan veteran.