That sounds fine. But it is well for us to remember that required only 19 terrorists and various support personnel to commit the atrocities of 9/11 and kill nearly 3000 Americans and residents of our country. I do not understand the connection between a roughhewn camp somewhere in Afghanistan and Saudi terrorists boarding American airplanes with box cutters. I do not understand how standing up a government in Afghanistan which is intolerant of terrorists prevents another 19 Saudis and terrorists from other nations attacking America in some similar fashion.
If we think that we can stand up such a government within the year deadline set down by the Obama administration, we are simply deluding ourselves. It is extreme folly to rely at all on the Karzai regime which is thoroughly corrupt and even now cutting deals with the Taliban about how to slice the pie after America departs.
It is inconceivable that America can occupy every square meter of Muslim territory from the Atlantic shores of Morocco to the mountain border between Pakistan and China. We simply cannot win the war on terrorism by occupying every Muslim nation. Afghanistan was not the only nexus of the 9/11 attack. As stated above, some of the terrorists came from Saudi Arabia, others from elsewhere. There is no reason why another attack cannot be mounted from the Sudan or from some barrio in Cairo.
What are we doing in Afghanistan at the cost of, what, $1 billion a day? What are we gaining? What is the endgame? Are we setting ourselves up to crash with our ally? What does standing up a 21st-century government in eighth century Afghanistan have to do with fighting a 21st-century war against terrorism? Can we afford any of this?
Can we afford to fight a war of revenge? We've been at it now for eight years, the longest war in American history and we fought ourselves into a place where we have rules of engagement which would satisfy Emily Post. Are we trying to avenge 9/11 or are we trying to change hearts and minds? How many lives should we sacrifice for revenge? How may lives to make the Afghans amenable to a corrupt Karzai government as opposed to a theocratic and fascist Taliban government? How many lives are being wasted in a war that does not make us safer?
