Afghanistan

Afghanistan - what's different?

Afghanistan is a land-locked country with Iran on one side and Pakistan on another. To the north there are the former USSR nations. We have to stay friendly with someone to just get troops in whether we fly them in or take them over land. In Iraq, there was a gulf to float all the heavy equipment in. Moving 40,000 troops to Afghanistan would not be easy. Getting their equipment there would be a huge logistics problem.

We have a new president with no military experience. He does not understand the cost of indecision in lives. It takes a good plan but it also takes action. You can't give the enemy the play book and expect to beat them.

America is tired of war. There is not the long term determination that we hear about in WWII. Americans, these days, like short wars.

Also, there is the trouble here, which would be 'back home' for the troops. People are getting kicked out of their homes, there is little money to spend and the government is taking more than their fair share out of what is left. My own property tax bill doubled this year. If the books were balanced right now, we would be in chapter 13 in our national treasury. Government knows no restraint when it comes to spending. To solve things they just add more burden on the taxpayers and consumers.

A decision must be made concerning Afghanistan. Troops are dying. We need to either get in with enough force to do the job or get out. We cannot leave our troops in harms way for three more years while politicians (with no war experience) make up their minds about what to do. Do it or don't do it but quit talking about it.