It's Time To Bring It Home

Currently there are 68,000 U.S. soldiers and marines in Afghanistan. There have been 190 American fatalities this year, the highest total in nearly eight years. This year's Pentagon budget for Afghanistan is $65 billion and total costs now exceed $228 billion. Not to mention the cost in terms of lives- 774 brave heroes dead. So what is the current dilemma? Obama and his advisers need to re-evaluate Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. They are faced with a decision of whether to continue America’s strategy for the last 8 years, plus increase military and civilian presence in Afghanistan or draw back.

His generals are calling for a full-blown, multi-year, counterinsurgency war plan that may require ordering an extra 40,000 troops into Afghanistan. But some of his most senior advisors are urging him to scale back U. S. war goals and adopt a "minimalist" footprint in Afghanistan, shifting the U.S. military's attention to attacking Al-Qaeda and Taliban targets in Pakistan. That would require fewer troops and the use of unmanned drones and special forces units.

I say that it is time to bring it home. I do not mean for America to stop the war on terrorism, but it would be beneficial for America to focus on America. Focus on pressing issues such as healthcare, education, unemployment and the economy. Let’s face it the U.S. doesn’t have good track record of nation building abroad. Moreover, the last time another nation (Soviet Union) tried to control Afghanistan, it ultimately resulted to its downfall.

I believe that there are better things that need time, resources, and attention. “The problems of this world are deeper, more involved, and more stubborn than many of us realize,” Mr. Kennan said in a 1949 speech to the Academy of Political Science. “It is imperative, therefore, that we economize with our limited resources and that we apply them where we feel that we will do the most good.”

Right now the most good would be to continue to build and re-build this current nation. It really starts at home!