| Come On And Let Me Know: Should We Stay or Should We Go? |
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| Written by Brian K. Lind | |
| Wednesday, 04 November 2009 | |
 Last week President Obama did something that former President Bush could never quite find time to do, he went to Dover Air Force Base and honored the return of a few soldiers who had made the ultimate sacrifice for him as Commander and Chief. His visit is already being spun, with the Right claiming Obama was just looking for a photo op . But you needn’t look further than the somber pain on President Obama’s face as he salutes the casket of Army Sergeant Dale R. Griffin , who was killed by a roadside bomb last Tuesday in Afghanistan.
In many respects I believe Obama’s presence was to remind himself of the ultimate sacrifice he calls on thousands of US military troops to risk in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Lately Obama has been under great scrutiny and media speculation as he prepares his way forward in Afghanistan. The Right has accused him of stalling , the Left is in an quiet uproar about the planned escalation of the war, and everyone in the middle has a differing opinion. And as Obama does the hard work of examining all of his options as he plans his path forward, I have to admit, personally I am deeply torn on what I would like to see happen in Afghanistan. That may surprise some, especially those who know me, as a born and raised believer in nonviolence and antiwar advocate. And it should be noted that I’ve never supported war, and fundamentally still don’t, violence is always a short game solution that is always counter productive to long term goals. October was the bloodiest month for US troops in Afghanistan, with at least 53 US soldier losing their lives there . Afghanistan is ripe with violence that kills soldiers and civilians alike everyday. What tears at my conscience is that the violence and war we brought to Afghanistan has left Afghanistan and the world much worse off. By no means was Afghanistan a great place to begin with under Taliban control, however, we have succeeded in only one thing: making it worse. While our presence has done nothing more than make Afghanistan worse, I am torn by a sense of obligation to make a concerted effort to brig order to the chaos we have created. As Obama prepares to lay out his path forward in Afghanistan , I plan on dedicating my next several entries to examine the potential paths forward. The “experts” speculate we will hear Obama’s plan as soon as next week or possibly after Thanksgiving. I’ll be dedicating some space to arguments for staying , arguments for withdrawing , and alternative approaches to success in Afghanistan. As I debates my personal stance on the way forward in Afghanistan, I would love to hear your thoughts and positions in the below comment section.
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  written by Matt , November 08, 2009 I would agree with you that the quagmire of Afganistan offers no easy solutions. PBS's Frontline did a fascinating show on US troops' efforts to work more with Afghans, and how countless Afghans would prefer to work with US, but only if the US is going to sustain it's involvement in the region. Otherwise, these people are risking their lives by even speaking to US troops. That account really moved me to increase troop levels in the interest of helping Afghans, and yet is this really sustainable? We can't develop their country for them, and even if we try to protect them and allow them to reconstruct their markets and build new schools, we cannot change a culture throught the barrel of a gun. Furtheremore, the other day I heard a fascinating interview from a former Marine and a US military consultant who had spent some time in Afganistan but had recently resigned. His argument was really eye-opening; it's not whether we can win this war, but why are we still fighting it? While supporting our initial invasion to oust the Taliban in 2001, he questioned the assumption, voiced only two weeks ago by Secretary of State Clinton, that if we leave the power vacuum in our wake will immediately be filled by Al-Quada once again. He noted that Al-Quaeda is an ideology not a particular nation or even population (and does occupying Afghanistan and killing Afghan civilians help us in that ideological battle). Moreover, Al-Quaeda now has many other countries to base it's operations out of (Sudan and Yemen are two that he mentioned). Thus, what are our goals in Afganistan? Let's think deep and hard about that before we consider all the tactical questions. report abuse
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 written by A. Wesley Ballantyne , November 06, 2009 It is interesting you have this picture here with the Rights response as earlier today I read somewhere that people were up in arms that Obama has played more golf already in his presidency than Bush had in two and a half years, as Bush stopped playing golf because he did not want a Mom of a solider in Iraq or Afghanistan seeing him on the golf course. Anyways, what to do with Afghanistan? Fortunately for me, I am not in charge of making that decision and I really am not sure. However, I will say this, for every 53 American troops that die in Afghanistan, how many civilians are dying? As we continue to weigh our options in Afghanistan, we must consider not only the lives of American soldiers we will lose if we stay, but additionally all of the Afghan civilians' lives that will continue to be wasted, not too mention the local backlash that brings... report abuse
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