If you want to keep fighting in Afghanistan please tell me why?

To find Osama? Yes

The Taliban? Yes

Help the women in the country? Yes

You don’t want to leave without winning? Yes

If so, what is the definition of winning to you? Winning is going after something (e.g. a goal or item) and completing or receiving it fairly.

Other? We are trying to make Afghanistan a better place and win the war on terror. Unfortunately, I don’t believe we will successfully win the war on terror for quite some time, if ever.

I believe Osama and the Taliban have moved on. It’s been too long for them to still be hanging out there. They are scattered hither and yon. Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, etc. Afghanistan did not attack us. We were just as stupid to invade it as we were Iraq. It is a waste of money, a waste of time, a waste of effort, and a sorry waste of human life. I’ve never understood what “winning” means in war. It’s a misnomer.

The Taliban are largely hiding elusively on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, to my knowledge. The Taliban has not “moved on”. The reason the Taliban is causing such a problem for the United States is because they regulate the poppy/opium trade in a country where many of the farmers contribute to a lucrative drug trade. The US, among other things, is trying to change the crops to something more “legal”.

Americans, and probably other Westerners, have (at the hands of the media) crammed the Taliban and al Qaeda into the same basket.

To try to control the the Pakistani strongholds of Pashtun guerrillas who may force access to Pakistan’s nuclear facilities if we don’t intervene, thus precipitating a worldwide catastrophe.

@ubersiren GA.

It seems to me that the original Al Qaeda is more or less destroyed, but has become a franchise. Obama did promise to find him and kill bin Laden, even though it seems that the CIA thinks he is dead already. A man that sick, needing dialysis every second day on the run has a hard time hiding.

I don’t think Obama and the US can leave easily . They would just hand back Afghanistan to the Taliban. That would also be a blow to the global view of the “might of America”. Another Vietnam withdrawal.

There seems to be no shortage of Taliban fighters either, and I am not sure paying them not to fight is a long term solution. I believe that the solution only can come from the Afghan peoples themselves.

canada has just lost her 132 soldier.

Like it or not, we live in a society where “we the people” (in most cases) elect leadership. That leadership decides how best to utilize our/your countries resources (including soldiers). If the Commander in Chief says it’s a worthy cause to fight in Afghanistan, help stabilize and boost their economy, and contribute to the safety and welfare of its citizens.. so be it. We (collectively) elected our leadership and they make the decision.

If you think you live in just your country and that you should just build a wall around it and never leave.. protect your borders and your borders alone.. well.. than you are a bit naive I think. There is a lot happening in the world. The overall welfare of the world and its people is certainly something that effects all of us. Ignoring other countries is ignorant.

As far as the death toll. Of course, it is never good to lose someone dear to you.. lose a soldier.. but such is the price of freedom. It is often paid in blood. If you disagree then go down to your local police station and tell them they aren’t needed anymore. There will be plenty of peace on the streets without them.

We never should have gotten into a war in Afghanistan. Our goal on Sept 12, 2001 was to get Osama bin Laden.and neutralize his organization. If we had simply offered the people of Afghanistan the $15,000/family that we have spent to date we not only would have captured him and his organization but we would have saved 10’s of thousands of lives but we would have improved the economics of the region and improved our relationships with many nations. We need to get out and tack another tack.

I think most people fighting wars, regardless of the side they’re on will tell you that they do not want to fight the war, nor keep on fighting it. They will tell you that reason they fight is that they need to.

Most often because they feel that way, because they fear that when they don’t win, they’ll loose. The irony is that war very rarely has winners amongst the people that actually fight them.

In my view, the winners of war will only emerge after the fighting has stopped to write their view on history.

Sure, we should colonize the place and make it ripe for conversion.

Heck, I’m a poor boy/girl, and it’s a job!
Plus, them ‘fightin jobs’ gotta happen somewhere.
And I’m sure my superiors feel the same way.

@NaturalMineralWater : I understand what you’re saying, but I don’t buy that we must fight in wars to be “free.” There are plenty of nations in this world who are peaceful and free. No bloodshed necessary.

So we can destroy their infrastructure.
Directed by the world bank. After all, we owe them trillions. So, they are calling the shots.

Then the world bank steps in, financing their reconstruction.
This having the adverse effect of the world bank controlling that country.
Their intent to have and control it all.

I heard recently that a village recently liberated from taliban control was dutifully handed over to local security forces, whereupon they proceeded to rape some of the young male inhabitants, thus inciting the local populace to welcome back the Taliban in order to reinstitute their rather specialised brand of instant justice.

Has everyone seen Team America: World Police? Yeah, I don’t think we should be like that. We are not, in fact, the world’s police. I know crime and violence happens all over the world, but we don’t have the resources (time, money, soldiers’ lives) to spare to help everyone.

Thanks for the answers so far. I still don’t know what I think. Ugh. I lean towards getting out of there, because I have little faith we will really change anything for the better. What saddens me so is the conditions for the women. I wish we could give them all a ticket out to someplace safe where they can live in peace.

Part of the reason we’re still over there is because its keeping the terrorists busy on the home front with volunteer American targets rather than worrying about attacking the US (and normal citizens) like they have in the past. It makes sense, as horrible as it is.

@avvooooooo Never heard that one. Wow.

You people are going to make my head explode.

Link Link Link

Much of the Middle East wants to destroy the west. By fighting in Afghanistan we draw them all there to fight trained soldiers rather than allowing them to come over here and kill civilians. They can throw their jihadists at our special forces troops instead of our cities. The vast majority of fighters are not from Afghanistan, but are from all parts of the Muslim world where Americans, English, Australians etc. are considered to be infidels.

@JLeslie Nobody ever talks about it, but when you think about it, it makes a lot of sense for those politicians who care more about not having terrorist attacks than service people. I don’t think that Obama is one of these, but I do think that was Bush’s primary motive in some of the things he did in relation to the wars we’re fighting in the Middle East.

Then there’s the fact that you might learn from some service people. As of a couple of years ago, we leased current bases in Iraq for 99 years. There’s little to no permanent and complete exit strategy, at least seemingly not in the minds of the Bush administration.

Because dropping bombs on peoples homes makes the Afghan people not want to become terrorists. By killing innocent civilians we keep their recruitment down. Why would people want to repel a foreign military that was attacking their population?

I have no answer, since I am not over there fighting. I do support the soldiers in any way I possibly can, and the ones I have spoken to have gone to Afghanistan because they were called up to do so. The ones I know personally have promised to come back and I await their return. Should they not come back, I will be heartbroken, but I know they are serving their country, and protecting my freedom as a civilian. It’s their kids and wives I feel the most for, as they suffer everyday that their loved ones are gone. Whether I think we should leave or stay matters not, my opinion does not set US military policy.

Personally, I saw no reason to go into Iraq, since we pretty much had Saddam right where we wanted him. But Shrubby thought otherwise. Had we kept our troops in afghanistand, instead of pulling them out to fight on a new front in Iraq, we might have accomplished something there by now.

Bush made the same error good ol’ Adolf did, he decided to fight on two different fronts, thereby causing a major loss of life for an ideal that was unsustainable.

@Psychedelic_Zebra Mission creep.

@oratio good thing I looked that up, I thought you were calling me a creep, and them’s fightin’ words.~

@Psychedelic_Zebra Lol =)

Two reasons.
1. It is the East’s gateway to the oil and if we do not control the gateway China will, and then they will be able to grow their economy at will and will not have to buy our debt
2. The big problem in the area is Iran. Iraq is the anvil and Afghanistan is the hammer to contain Iran. look at the map.