Open Thread: Is it time to divest ourselves of all things Afghanistan?

In other words, should we immediately leave Afghanistan or stick with it until we get the defined objectives completed? Although this is an open thread, keep your comments short and to the point.

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Steve McGough

Steve's a part-time conservative blogger. Steve grew up in Connecticut and has lived in Washington, D.C. and the Bahamas. He resides in Connecticut, where he’s comfortable six months of the year.

18 Comments

  1. Plainvillian on February 27, 2012 at 9:40 am

    We can’t leave until we apologize for freeing them from the Taliban and trying to drag them out of the 7th century and into modernity, can we?



  2. Dimsdale on February 27, 2012 at 10:19 am

    Stay, finish the job, get the hell out.? Otherwise, the Taliban regroups and all was for naught.



    • GdavidH on February 27, 2012 at 5:00 pm

      I gotta play the bad guy to your comment Dims and ask exactly what is the job we should finish.
      ?It has never, to my knowledge, been?definitively?defined, and with the?stifling rules of engagement we use versus the methods employed by?the Taliban and?Al Qeda, how could we possibly cure that tribal, Islamic, 8th century nation of it’s ills??

      ?I say get out and let the regional muslim populations handle the humanitarian mess.? They really don’t want?us there.?



    • Dimsdale on February 28, 2012 at 11:23 am

      You make an excellent point.? I leaned towards my point for the lives lost and the fate of women in Afghanistan under the Taliban.?? This is the ultimate no win scenario, as the Soviets discovered.



  3. johnboy111 on February 27, 2012 at 11:26 am

    ever notice how the crouds “pump” up when the cameras are on??



  4. gillie28 on February 27, 2012 at 11:48 am

    Think should get out, especially with the appeasement policies of current administration.? But with very clear understanding to all parties that we will ariel-bomb any Taliban-sponsored, terrorist camps, etc.? Feel very sorry for Afghan women and girls.? We made them empty promises.? Taliban is just salivating at the thought of taking over again….it has always been a tribal land, will probably resort back to internal warfare.? sorry, not short enough!!!!



    • Lynn on February 28, 2012 at 8:29 am

      After reading all comments, I think I agree with Gillie the most. I was never in favor of putting troops on the ground in Afghanistan and we NEVER should have trusted Pakistan. I HOPE that by continuing our use of? drones or elite military sharp shooters, black op groups, the troops who served in Afghanistan will not feel their sacrifice was in vain.? But, bring our troops home.



  5. JBS on February 27, 2012 at 3:23 pm

    We should leave Afghanistan ASAP.
    We should also STOP paying any foreign aid to any Muslim majority or influenced country, starting with Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc.
    Not one of those countries are worth any further American lives. Let ’em go pound sand and demonstrate all they want.?
    Bring all of our men and women home, now.



  6. PatRiot on February 27, 2012 at 6:23 pm

    The only defined goal was to defeat the Taliban.? They numbers around the world have swelled.?
    Oops.? Time to cut our losses and come home.
    – We?decided to “nation build”? read: build an empire.? This goes against our Constitution and upsets other country’s sovereignty.??
    – Americans have met their enemy, it is those who claim to run this country.? This is one of their favorite plays to run.? It is called “Do bad things and cover it with a manufactured bad guy”.



  7. rickg on February 27, 2012 at 9:41 pm

    We should pull out imediately and take all of our billions of dollars given anually used?to keep that sewer flowing. No more Americans and no more American money.



  8. ricbee on February 27, 2012 at 11:39 pm

    Yup,time to pack our stuff & go. But we should leave 20,000 troops at Bagram to make sure the Taliban or any other group that we deem a threat arises. Let Karzai go to the Saudis & Iran for? financial help. We should have done the same in Iraq.



  9. winnie on February 28, 2012 at 2:48 am

    Afghanistan has become an old, very sad story…We probably should have learned from the Soviets that a win there is logistically impossible.? With our economy being what it is and considering the fact that Obama still doesn’t have a budget, I’m thinking a little isolationism would be a groovy thing.? Maybe all of those countries we’ve funneled money to in the form of aid (including those in the mid-east) will reciprocate to help us get back on our feet?
    Yeah, surrrrrre.
    Obama needs to keep his campaign promise and get our troops out of there. Yesterday.
    ?



  10. gillie28 on February 28, 2012 at 3:15 am

    Winnie, it is an amazing day when we agree with one of Obama’s promises!? He managed to change the overseeing, military authorities – putting in?those who more or less agreed with his appeasement?policies – and current, “politically correct” attitudes to war (sadly, more or less the same under Bush) changed all the rules of engagement.? Now we have to be kind and nice and generous to those who hate and kill us, and prosecute our own soldiers for being over-zealous in traumatic circumstances.? With those kinds of attitudes, that completely tie military hands,?there is absolutely no point in fighting anywhere.? The Iraqi, Afghani and Pakistani leaders are laughing all the way to their corrupt bank accounts, grasping?all the “prize money” they embezzled from us in their corrupt, evil hands.



  11. Murphy on February 28, 2012 at 8:58 am

    We should have neutron bombed the mountains when they first pulled back into them. Thanks Jimmy.
    Other than that let’s push to get out and advertize it as Obama’s Vietnam.



  12. SeeingRed on February 28, 2012 at 9:03 am

    While we are there for different reasons than the then Soviets, the result is the same.? The US military has done an outstnding job winning each battle, but the directive is weak at best at this point to say nothing of the obvious fractured Afghan political structure.? All we are doing at this point is risking additional blood and treasure to save face.

    The time to say buh-bye has come and gone.?



  13. Tim-in-Alabama on February 28, 2012 at 9:04 am

    The war is lost. Obama has no strategy other than “air raiding” villages and murdering suspects without benefit of trial, causing Muslims to hate us more. The entire Middle East is in turmoil because of his leading from behind as worse evil doers than the previous evil doers seize power. He tucked tail and ran out of Iraq, and either takes credit or blames Bush for that depending on how many innocent Iraqis die each day at the hands of a resurgent Al Qaeda, his former allies when he was a humble Senator undermining the war effort. As I watch mindless, hate filled crowds riot in Afghanistan, I can’t help but think Obama should be familiar with such sociopaths since they are similar in many ways to those he “community organized.” Yes, it’s time to bring our troops home and cut their medical benefits so we can spend our “treasure” on algae gas, wind farms and solar panels.



  14. phil on February 28, 2012 at 9:33 am

    Those of you who are Sherlock Holmes fans may remember, when Holmes first met Dr. Watson, he said, “I see you have just returned from Afghanistan.”? The English should have melted that cesspool then.? We should melt it now.? Make glass, not war!?



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