Eugene Robinson: End the Afghan mission now

[babylonsister]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/bring-home-the-troops-now-from-afghanistan/2012/03/12/gIQAkVqs7R_story.html?hpid=z3

End the Afghan mission now

By Eugene Robinson


It was clear before Sunday’s horrific massacre of civilians that it’s past time for the U.S. mission in Afghanistan to end. Now the only question should be how quickly we can get our troops onto transport planes to fly them home.

What are we accomplishing, aside from enraging the Afghan population we’re allegedly trying to protect? How are we supposed to convince them that a civilian massacre carried out by a U.S. soldier is somehow preferable to a civilian massacre carried out by the Taliban? How does it make any of us safer to have the United States military known for burning Korans and killing innocent Muslim children in their beds?


snip//

For the Taliban, which is competing against the U.S. military and the Afghan government for popular allegiance, the killings were a public relations gift.

“If the perpetrators of this massacre were in fact mentally ill,” the Taliban said in a statement, “then this testifies to yet another moral transgression by the American military because they are arming lunatics in Afghanistan who turn their weapons against the defenseless Afghans without giving a second thought.”

snip//

This is supposed to be a period of transition from U.S. occupation to Afghan government control. But what do we expect to accomplish between now and 2014, when our troops are supposed to come home? We can be confident that the Afghan government will still be feckless and corrupt. We can anticipate that the Afghan military will still lack personnel, equipment and training. We can be absolutely certain that the Taliban insurgents will still constitute a threat, because — and this is what gung-ho advocates of the war fail to grasp — they live there. To them, Afghanistan is not a battlefield but a home.

It’s their country, not ours. In increasingly clear language, Afghans are telling us to leave. We should listen and oblige.

[Cali_Democrat]

1. Looks like people, especially folks in the MSM, are finally starting to realize the truth

Last edited Mon Mar 12, 2012, 09:25 PM - Edit history (1)

The same truth that many DUers have been saying for years now only to be attacked as Obama haters.

The war in Afghanistan is and always has been utterly un-winnable. It's a total waste of blood and treasure.

**sigh**

[Old and In the Way]

4. Hmmm...this Obama lover has been pushing for a withdrawal since he was elected.

I've never bought his rationale on staying in Afghanistan and after OBL was killed, I really didn't understand why he didn't pivot on that moment and use that as the rationale for an expedited exit.

[CAPHAVOC]

2. Hey we are Nation Building

It is the #1 hobby of the 1%. After all it is not their money or dead kids. We should resurrect Country Joe and The Fish. Just change Viet Nam to Afghanistan and it will be a hit all over again. Amazing we never learn. What is the definition of doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result?

[Honeycombe8]

3. I think it's time. nt

[TheKentuckian]

5. Doublequick, not like yesterday but like yesteryear.

What a fucking crapfest this has all been.

Sometimes as a nation we don't have the sense the good Lord gave dogshit.

[sad sally]

6. Don't expect President Obama to move up any timetables he's set to end this bloody occupation

“But what we don’t want to do is to do it in a way that is just a rush for the exits,” Obama said. “So we’re going to do it in a responsible way.”

“We’ve got to do it in a responsible way -- reducing our footprint progressively, giving Afghans more and more responsibility while we keep an eye on going after Al Qaeda and making sure that no attacks against our homeland can be launched from that region,” Obama said. “That’s going to be my continued focus for the next couple of years.”

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2012/03/obama-afghanistan-massacre-civilians-americans-villagers-killing-sergeant.html

So no exits for the next couple of years - just keep rotating the used-up troops in and out, over and over until the CIA special ops drone forces take over. Stick to the plan no matter how insane it is or how much insanity it creates.

Does anyone think attacks against our homeland can be launched from that region? If they do, expect these wars won't end until every country in the region has been reduced to rubble.

[jbnow]

7. Of course there are exits over next couple years

The reduction will be 25%+ just over next few months, that's already planned.
10 thousand have already been removed

2014 was when withdrawal would be done, not when it would start. Later last year they were already looking at speeding that up.
This "we don’t rush for the exits" is generally a good idea, not a safe way to go
but I hope it speeds up more than originally planned at least. Once they had that bad election we were in a no win situation there anyway, having to supporting a corrupt regime.

But what I hope really changes is how they keep putting people back in rotation that should not be, playing down PTSD or brain injury.

That seems to be the case with this guy. He was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury in 2010 and then determined to be fit for service.
This forever war makes them all the more careless about disregarding the obvious.

[babylonsister]

9. Thanks for this. I also hope for a more speedy exit. nt

[babylonsister]

8. You are sad. I have a more optimistic view; I know Obama has

mentioned getting out of Afghanistan. I think what happened will expedite that.

[sad sally]

10. The country needs optimists

And I'm sure after the US has finished its mission, Afghanistan will be another stable, secure, prosperous, democratic state just like Iraq is today.

[babylonsister]

11. Now you're being sarcastic.

I 'get' it. Yes, I support the President, and NO, I don't support being in Afghanistan. I can still be optimistic that we'll get out of there.