It might be kind of crazy to believe but the U.S. has been in Afghanistan for 13 years. We went in right after September 11 in 2001 and we’ve never given up on our conquest to enforce democracy and defeat terrorism in the embattled region. Though we are told over and over again that our troops are finally coming home, there seems to be an actual end in sight. U.S. officials have declared that U.S. military presence will be removed from Afghanistan by 2016.
The U.S. currently has 32,000 troops still in the country, but President Obama has promised to reduce that number to 9,800 by the end of this year. That number would be cut in half by the end of 2015, and only a small force would be left in 2016 to protect the U.S. embassy. The President stated that by freeing up combat resources in Afghanistan, they could be reapplied to fight other terror threats around the world. In his speech Obama reasoned “We have to recognize Afghanistan will not be a perfect place, and it is not America’s responsibility to make it one, the future of Afghanistan must be decided by Afghans.”
Well, the fate of Afghanistan was clearly not decided by Afghans when the U.S. stormed the country in 2001. The U.S. has had a history of going into unstable regions and though they claim to be doing it for the good of the people at home and abroad, that really doesn’t seem to be the case. Some members of Congress have noted that the deadline that Obama has set is only 20 days before he leaves office. By removing all troops it would allow him to claim success for one his promises made while running for his current term. Republicans have also argued that pulling troops out so quickly will result in the same chaos experienced in Iraq after the U.S. left. This most likely will happen, but it would happen regardless of whether our troops leave in 2016 or 2026.
The U.S. can not be the world police forever. Leaving Afghanistan is a good thing for our troops. Many of these soldiers have faced four or more tours. The damage done to these brave men and women can never truly be undone. We need to bring them home, thank them for their service, and let them know that they have earned a break. Politics are played like a game, but the people up on Capitol Hill forget that they are dealing with real lives.
CREDIT: REUTERS/KEVIN LAMARQUE
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