People of the United States are still asking when their beloved soldiers will come home. The Obama administration has been developing a plan that will begin transfer security duties in Afghanistan to that country's forces. The process will take approximately 18 to 24 months and it is believed that the mission in Afghanistan will end by 2014. This four year plan will be presented at a NATO summit meeting in Lisbon. The plan will be pretty similar to the troop withdrawal in Iraq under George W. Bush's administration. American troops will steadily decrease as more Afghan civilians and military officials are thoroughly trained by U.S. forces to become Afghan fighters. The trained soldiers will then replace deployed soldiers and defend the country for themselves. Eventually majority of the U.S. troops will be brought home and only few American forces will remain for further teachings and support in case of emergencies.
I personally believe that the plan takes too long and I have doubts about the success of Obama administration's plan. First of all, unlike Iraq, Afghanistan does not have any structure of government. It is hard to believe that by simply training defense tactics and giving weapons to civilians will bring order to the country and the people. Second, this plan, just like the one in Iraq, violates the mind your own business policy. It is one of the many reasons why many countries disapprove United States’ foreign affair plans. Although Americans are in Afghanistan to destroy the Taliban and civilize the people, our help might be interpreted as meddling and could cause scornful tensions between soldiers and Afghans. Worst of all, future rebels might form to oppose American help. The correct action is when our country is attacked or threatened, we wipe out our enemies, and then we leave. There's no reason to overstay our welcome in other countries, especially with the economy is in a state of recession. The military is also losing money and it is visible by the number of cut backs on bonus money for soldiers and reduction in troops. Not only are the soldiers away from their family, but also losing money to support them. What I believe should be done right now is just withdrawal our troops. We have kept our soldiers from their families long enough, why should they stay in a country that doesn't even want our help? Why should we stay on the battlefield when our enemies are already vanquished?
Good post. The issue of removing our troops from the Middle East has been a huge debate in both the Bush Admin, and now the Obama as well. I think that Americans can easily become confused on this issue. We, as citizens, see news reports and television shows about the hatred and cruelty that happens within this war, so naturally we assume that our country is fighting a true and just war, which causes the confusion. What our citizens do not see is that we are only prolonging the suffering of our soldiers, which is not even necessary. As said in the above blog post, we have kept our soldiers away from their family and loves ones long enough, their return to the States is way past over due. Our country is suffering from this war. Our citizens are drowning in a recession and we are seeing the full consequences of unemployment and chaos within our market. Millions of dollars are being spent over seas towards an effort that is in some circumstances, completely lost.
ReplyDeleteAs described above, we are doing an incredible dis-service to our country, but we are doing an even great dis-service to the countries of Afghanistan and Iraq. This gruesome battle is being fought of their soil, in their homes. We can only imagine the terror that goes on within this war; they see it up close and personal. It is their homes that are invaded; it is their children that are captured. We can all understand that this country at many points in recent history has indeed needed our help, but maybe it doesn’t need our help now. Maybe we are in this war for no reason.
I completely agree with this blog post. Send our troops home, mend our country and allow the eastern countries to being rebuilding. It is imperative.