Should we get out of Afghanistan?

Now that is the countless billion dollar question. I think we’re stuck there until it becomes some semblance of something we’re comfortable leaving on its own, at least the major cities. The rest of it is just nomadic.

Of course we should – should have never went in there, to begin with. The money wasted on this ‘war on terror’ is ridiculous.

Yes. We should never have been there in the first place.

We can’t disappoint Cheny and then let down Haliburton, KBR and Unocal by just packing and not finishing the job and waste all their millions in campaign contributions!! That would be un-American! We must support the companies that make these wars a noble cause and generate much needed jobs for us.

“The amount Halliburton could receive in the future is virtually limitless,” said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who disclosed the troop support work orders Thursday. “It is simply remarkable that a single company could earn so much money from the war in Iraq.”

Yes, but the question is when exactly and how.

Any pullout will probably take at least 6 months. It takes a long time to physically move out the troops, along with their equipment.

The other issue—which a lot of liberals ignore—is that if we pull out without leaving any sort of functioning police or government, in many places, the Taliban are going to murder a lot of people—Afghans who collaborated with us, and/or their families. This is probably going to happen to some extent anyway; we can’t prevent the Taliban from taking power everywhere (and the Wikileaks has apparently identified many of these collaborators), and the Karzai government is extremely corrupt and inept. So it’s a question of extent, not if/whether.

I believe that we have a moral responsibility to not let the country we invaded and occupied descend into murderous chaos. We need to pull out, because we shouldn’t be occupying their country, but I agree with the president that we should do as much as we reasonably can to establish a security infrastructure and thin the ranks of the Taliban before we leave the country.

@Qingu Great answer, my sentiments exactly.

yes, take a deep breath and completely withdraw, don’t be tough on terrorism, be tough on the causes of terrorism, to paraphrase New Labour’s mantra on domestic crime in the UK during the Blair years: tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime

Lets be totally jack blunt, now, i mean lets have some realpolitik concerning the maligned Taliban regime. Let’s try to Imagine an extant Soviet Union intent on territorial control of Afghanistan, resisted only by the Taliban with it’s unflinchingly brutal religious ideology, viciously misogynistic interpretation of sharia law, warts and all. We know in our heart of hearts that the USA would still offer to sponsor the Taliban either overtly or through clandestine methods depending on public opinion back home. So the argument for liberation and such like is completely bogus.

There is so much mission creep, no one is sure what victory even looks like. Besides how do you destroy an ideology that is supported by a continuous stream of martyrs and would be martyrs, hell bent on taking themselves out and anyone else that happens to be in proximity, only limited by the extent of the explosive devise to which they are attatched?

@Qingu Actually the question is “should we” get out. Yes we should and the sooner the better. For over 3,000 years they have ruled themselves and been happy. Foreigners come along and paint a picture that for a nobel cause we can make their world better. WHY??

Because of reasons I cited. So the invader can reap riches by doing so. To hell with a centralized government, they don’t want it never have. As long as we pump money into the criminals over there we are welcome the minute the kitty dries up business as usual. We don’t belong there PERIOD!! But Cheney and friends want you to believe otherwise.

@mammal Interesting point about Russia. Even though we assisted the Afghanis in the Cold War, why do you think we’d support them to thwart Russia these days? I don’t disagree or am trying to challenge your idea, I just wonder why you’ve reached that conclusion.

We never should have gone in, in my opinion.

Yes, when the Afghan authorities can keep Taliban criminals in check on their own. The world cannot afford terror camps to reopen. But the world also needs to work on strategies so people lose their interest in visiting terror camps in the first place.

@cockswain hypothetically, would America support the Taliban, assuming the Soviet Union was still implace, in the same way as they supported the Mujahideen back in the 80’s?

@mammal Well, that’s my question to you since you proposed the idea.