"I recognize that many Americans are tired of war," President Obama said in a pre-dawn speech today from a heavily secured U.S. military base in Afghanistan. "But we must finish the job we started in Afghanistan and end this war responsibly." After 10 1/2 years of war, what does that mean?
To even visit Afghanistan, President Obama had to be sneaked in to a massive U.S. military base in the wee hours of the morning, with Air Force One shutting off its lights and taking evasive action to land. This is hardly a warm and welcome greeting from the Afghan people.
To date, 1,826 U.S. troops have been killed in Afghanistan and likely another 12,000 to 14,000 U.S. troops have been severely wounded. This in addition to the many thousands of Afghan men, women and children who have been killed or severely wounded and hundreds more NATO and "coalition of the willing troops," also dead and severely wounded. And for what?
What is being accomplished that is worth all of this blood and destruction? What is being accomplished by spending on this war what is now likely a half trillion dollars and ever growing of borrowed money the U.S. can ill afford? The American people got upset when the GSA wasted $831,000 on a Las Vegas junket. Measured in waste, how does the cost of this war compare?
While the President was there, he and Afghan President Hamid Karzai signed "the Strategic Partnership Agreement" which does what? There is no dialogue with or disclosure to the American people. How much longer the U.S. will keep troops and "contractors" in Afghanistan, what weapons and what other funding requirements were committed to are not disclosed to the U.S. taxpayer nor military families, who bear the brunt of it all.
Right after President Obama was whisked out of Afghanistan, the Taliban attacked, setting off at least two car bombs at the front gate of Green Village, a heavily secured Kabul compound where U.S. and its allied personnel stay. They also launched rocket propelled grenades and opened machine gun fire, all of which was finally ended by fierce fighting from U.S. contractors.
"This delivers a message to President Obama that he is not welcome in Afghanistan," a Taliban spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal. "When he is in Afghanistan, we want him to hear the sound of explosions. Afghanistan does not want his imposed strategy."
The U.S. seems to have learned nothing from all this horror. Instead its undisclosed "Strategic Partnership Agreement" apparently declares Afghanistan as a "major non-NATO ally" of the U.S. as the U.S. continues to seek security and peace through military might. For this to be stopped requires us as people of conscience to raise our voices on behalf of our brethren and on behalf of sanity. As history has shown, most recently in ending the Vietnam War, if we as Americans unite, we really can make a difference.
Dick
To learn more, please see "Obama, Karzai Sign Strategic Afghan Pact: Taliban Attack Kabut Compound After President's Surprise Visit," The Wall Street Journal, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303916904577378080052874406.html
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