The decision to send an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan is irresponsible on the part of the administration I helped put in power. Granted, President Obama always said during the campaign that he wanted to focus on Afghanistan because it was the forgotten war during the Bush administration, but that doesn’t make this a correct decision.
There’s a point often made about Afghanistan that it is the deathbed of empires. The British failed, the Soviets failed, and now we, too, will fail. It is a modern-day Vietnam.
We have helped put in a corrupt regime, now backed by our government, and the people aren’t happy about it. People who wouldn’t have previously been anti-American are now changing their minds about our country. The area is now a breeding ground for anti-American mentalities, but only because we made it that way.
The only responsible thing to do at this point is to pull out of Afghanistan. Did Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon make good decisions when they increased the troops to Vietnam against the will of the people in both the United States and Vietnam? No, and history shows that we should never have been in Vietnam. It’s amazing how much the American people know and how little the government listens to them in times of war.
I just read that the surge will cost about $30 billion during the first year alone. Wouldn’t that money be much better off given back to the people of this country, from the lower class to the middle class, and pumped back into the economy?
Only time will tell whether this surge will work in the end. Personally, I don’t think it will, because military presence in the country has failed time and time again. All the signs of history are pointing toward the option that isn’t talked about — pulling out of Afghanistan. The area will most likely crumble, but the area will probably crumble after we leave anyway. At least we can save countless American and Afghani lives in the process.
I have supported President Obama in everything he has done or has tried to do so far. I found little fault in what he said on the campaign, and I was ecstatic when, in the small hours of the morning in November of 2008, I was a part of history. But I have to differ with him in this decision. I will continue to support him, but I think he has made a huge mistake with this surge. I just hope I’m proven wrong.
