The Long War: Afghanistan After July 2011

He has never been specific about anything, the media has always given him a pass when they would have dug up stories and crucified anyone else. Why should he start now?

Afghanistan is the new Vietnam. Maybe even worse.... Thanks Peace Prize Winning Obama!

I would love to know why they haven't eradicated the poppy fields!

Osama bin Laden did everything he could to coax America into Afghanistan. Why? It's called the graveyard of empires. Sure we could win it, but economically we would be destroyed.

We went to Iraq to democratize the region - at least that was their selling feature as they created this war for profit. Why are we in Afghanistan and what is their selling point ?...; Obama called Afghanistan the " good war", but is it really ?....Jr told us we were goingafter Al-Qaeda when he took the nation intothat dust bowl...; in a matter of weeks, our military licked Al-Qaeda's, Jr NEVAH declared mission accomplished as he removed the troops to go on a natural resources stick-up ( while declaring he was going to democratize the region). Now we're being told, our combat troops are out of Iraq- as they should - cuz, mission was really accomplished during June of 2007 after regaining control of Iraqis oil wells, but the million dollar question is, why are we in Afghanistan? - a place where we have in excess of 100K troops, and by our government's own count, there only remains some 50 foot soldiers from Al-Qaeda. ....AMERICANS, YOUS HAD BETTER START ASKING CAN WE AFFORD TO CONTINUE PI-SSING 100 BILLION DOLLARS PERYEAR,PAYING FOR THESE WARS FOR PROFITS AS OUR NATION DECAYS ?.

I am an 83 year old veteran with service from 1944 to 1971. I served in the Navy (WWII). the Army Air Corps, and the US Air Force. I have served in pay grades E-1 Thru E-8, and commissioned grades 0-1 thru 0-4. I retired as a Lt. Col. because of my reserve rank. We are fighting Muslim's because of differences in religious FAITH, Both sides are praying to the same God. Both sides worshiped the same God in OUR Civil War. Rediculous! Faith is what keeps otherwise honest people from looking for the truth. With all the great advances in science and technology; I think it is a perfect time for the religiously faithful to question their faith. This certainly applies to all religious faiths; Christian, Islam, Judaism, and all who believe in a supernatural controlling God. With all the DNA evidence that has been repeatedly duplicated within various scientific specialties; the arguments against evolution should be questioned by people honestly looking for the truth. There is now so much repeatable evidence that the universe, and all matter, were created in a big bang; that here again, the religious faithful must question their faith. What a shame that we are still killing one another over differences in religious Dogma. This is one big world and we are all related. Let's learn to live together. It seems to me, that as we evolved and our brains and thinking ability improved, we started to ask: "Where did we, and those like us, come from." The images on the walls of he caves in Europe and the written record left by the Egyptians and other Middle East civilizations certainly ask that question. Over several thousand years the Egyptians revered several different Gods. The Greeks and the Romans worshipped several different Gods. Only in the last 50 years or so did we learn that the Aztecs, Mayans, Native Americans, and other civilizations in this hemisphere worshipped various Gods. It wasn't until the Israelis discovered their own personal monotheistic God, that most people exposed to those ideas accepted that theology. Why didn't this God influence the earlier civilizations? Since the God of Israel told the Israeli priests that they were His chosen people, non Jews had to find some way to be included and the result was Jesus and Christianity. The Torah and the Bibles are now the two guidelines for the growing idea of a monotheistic God. Mohammad was from another ethnic group and he had his vision and the results were the Koran. Muslims and the Islamic religion grew at an extremely rapid pace. The resulting differences in these theologies came to a head when the Pope decided that Islam was a false religion and it had to be stopped. That battle is still going on. When the King and Queen of Spain decided to spread Christianity around the world, Christopher Columbus gave them the golden opportunity. The result in the Western hemisphere was the near elimination of the great civilizations in this part of the world. Joseph Smith then discovered the golden plates and The Church of Jesus Christ and The Latter Day Saints resulted. This loving God neglected all the previous theologies. Many, if not most, of the differences in attitudes and values among the people of the world, are the result of differences in religious dogma. Modern science has given us a rare opportunity to realize that we are all closely related and our differences in attitudes and values should be resolved peaceably through negotiations. The big disagreement regarding religion, life styles; homosexuality, abortion, etc., could be individual choices and not dictated by those who differ. When we accept the fact that there is no supernatural Deity, and we humans are going to have to rely on one another, there may be peace in this world. Respectfully, Larry J. Kluth(Lt.Col.USAF Ret)

The only way to win a short war is to invade with overwhelming force and pursue and destroy the enemy. We lost that initiative when we decided to invade Iraq. Now we are left with a long counter insurgency with an enemy supported by our biggest "ally" in the region. The Taliban is free to train and supply its forces protected by the Pakistani border and the ISI. Meanwhile, Pakistan pretends to support us while they undermine any attempt to end the war diplomatically because that is not in their interest. They view the Karzai government as an ally of India, their mortal enemy. That makes the Taliban their ally.