This is going to piss everybody off, I fear. The President is in Afghanistan explaining how he has signed a deal to withdraw U.S.troops by the end of 2014, but MSNBC keeps running a banner saying that the deal will keep U.S. troops in Afghanistan until 2024.
He’s saying the U.S. will not build permanent bases in Afghanistan, and that U.S. military personnel will be in some kind of supporting non-combat role. It’s going to take a while to digest this.
It doesn’t piss me off…Another 12 year, a hundred billion dollars, and a few more American lives ..and we’ll be done with it. A win- win for a no win situation!
I hope we can get into a war with Iran before 2024. It would be tragic to find ourselves without a war..What’s life if you can’t destroy it?
I want to retract my previous comment..I was just venting my frustration at the whole Bush created Iraq/ Afghanistan waste of national treasure. I listened to Obama’s speech from Afghanistan and was highly impressed with his outstanding leadership. He just put an end to the war in Afghanistan and did in an honorable manner. I’m reminded of the guy in Bush’s inner circle who said something to the effect we create reality by action and while you timid people struggle to comprehend we move on to a new reality.
Obama has created a new reality..the war in Afghanistan is over! And while the repugs struggle to comprehend, Obama will move on to a new reality with the credit and honor of ending two wars…Just like he said he would do when he campaigned for the Presidency. Bravo, Mr. President! You’ve displayed the most brilliant leadership I’ve seen in my life time.
Not to go off on one of my bible tangents but, God the world spoke into exisistence just like Obama spoke the end of the endless war in Afghanistan to an end.
Oh sorry, that’s… God spoke the world in existence…Damned synthetic marijauna!
Swami,
Got any to spare?
Remember – “Sharing, is caring.”
The sooner we’re out of Afghanistan, the better.
We can proceed to move to whatever we’re going to end up being in the 21st Century, and they can figure out where in the timeline between Alexander and Obama they want to spend this century, or, eternity.
And I still can’t help wondering if we tried to do a Marshall Plan starting in late ’01 or early 02, if “killing them with kindness,” instead of soldiers, bullets, planes, bombs, artillery, helicopters, and drones, might not have worked?
All of the other ’empires,’ rising or dying, threw their latest technological wizardry and gizmo’s at the Afghan people – kindness is the one thing no one ever tried.
But sadly, kindness was not something that flew high and exploded, and so, was not part of the American arsenal under “Baby Doc” Bush.
And by the time Obama tried it, it was too late. That, and the fact that our military still wanted to use drone attacks while rebuilding, sent a mixed message. And if there’s one thing a “society” like the one the Afghan’s have doesn’t relate to, it’s mixed messages.