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Why Are We Still in Afghanistan?
By Ed Koch March 20, 2012
There is no rational reason for us to be in Afghanistan. Our original goals were to end the government of the Taliban which had given Osama bin Laden a base from which he could launch worldwide terrorist attacks and commit his greatest horror and catastrophe: the blowing up of the World Trade Center towers in New York City and the killing of near 3,000 innocent civilians.
As a result of the valor of our troops and the ability of the U.S. military leadership, we have driven the Taliban from its former role in the government of Afghanistan and not long ago, our special forces in a heroic and masterful raid into Pakistan, killed Osama bin Laden in his hideaway which was probably known to Pakistan’s government authorities and in effect concealed and protected by the Pakistani government.
So why do we remain when doing so causes the Afghan people to hate us more with the passing of each day, calling us occupiers, infidels and murderers? The president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, is thought to be corrupt by many American observers. His brother is alleged to be an infamous drug lord and when the American military sought to stop corruption which exists on a massive scale in Afghanistan and in large part involves the stealing of the billions of dollars the U.S. has poured into that country to build infrastructure, the Karzai government has sought to impede the investigation of the U.S. anti-corruption unit known as the Major Crimes Task Force. The New York Times of March 18th reported, “When an aide to Mr. Karzai was arrested by an American-backed corruption task force, the president intervened to secure his release, and then eviscerated the anticorruption body of the Major Crimes Task Force.”
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A question raised time and again by many is, how is it that American troops were given 17 weeks of basic training and then sent into combat in World War II against both Japanese and German troops, and the Afghan army trained by the American military for near 10 years is still not ready to defend its own country? Yet, the Taliban troops using Afghan personnel has had major military successes. One answer given is that the Taliban, cruel as it is, is not corrupt and therefore commands allegiance, while the Karzai soldiers know their leadership is scamming the country.
Why do our government and military leaders urge our continued remaining in Afghanistan, instead of doing voluntarily what we were forced to do by the Iraqi government: quit the country and allow both countries, Iraq and Afghanistan, to defend themselves and run their own governments? We cannot make them accept Western mores, particularly as they apply to the rights of women to equality with their male counterparts. We cannot be the policeman of the world. Many believe that ultimately Iraq will disintegrate into chaos with three separate entities and governments: Shiite, Sunni and Kurd. Also that the Afghans will welcome back the Taliban and that Karzai will bring them into his government and they will ultimately be in charge once again.
MORE ------ http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2012/03/20/why_are_we_still_in_afghanistan_113544.html
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