[Drew68]

Can someone tell me why we’re there again?

To build Afghanistan into a peaceful, thriving, modern democracy.

We're almost there, aren't we?

[Doofer]

To build Afghanistan into a peaceful, thriving, modern democracy.

We're almost there, aren't we?

[Marie]

We’re there because of the Taliban.

The Taliban had their hands in every pot over there. They were terrorizing the citizens and had absolute control.

We’re ‘nation building’ because we have to give the people somewhere else to look for leadership.

The locals weren’t helping us against the Taliban because the TB would kill them. We had to build their trust and gain their cooperation to keep them from joining the TB. That is why we’re building the country up.

Rather than wage war with terrorists here, we’re doing it over there. We stepped into a convoluted snake pit to kee our civilians safe.

I, for one, have ‘war fatigue’. As the wife of a soldier, I’m exhausted. Three (year-long) deployments in six years. I want to see this end more than anyone.

But I remember why we’re doing this.

My husband is heading back to Kabul as we speak. While he was home on leave he told me that we have a long way to go if we want to make this a happy ending.

[elpadre]

IMO if the US and NATO were to abandon Afghanistan as we are about to do in Iraq, the country will become a training ground and center for terrorism worse than we have ever seen or can imagine. And their targets won't be in the ME, Russia or Asia. They will be targets in the US and Europe. That one area has the potential of making the Western world a fiery hell. I think it must be contained by constant and aggressive pressure. The insurgents need to be rooted out by an overwhelming force and those short-sighted European leaders need to be a significant part for failure in Afghanistan will the an Islamic Europe and all that means.

[elpadre]

IMO if the US and NATO were to abandon Afghanistan as we are about to do in Iraq, the country will become a training ground and center for terrorism worse than we have ever seen or can imagine. And their targets won't be in the ME, Russia or Asia. They will be targets in the US and Europe. That one area has the potential of making the Western world a fiery hell. I think it must be contained by constant and aggressive pressure. The insurgents need to be rooted out by an overwhelming force and those short-sighted European leaders need to be a significant part for failure in Afghanistan will the an Islamic Europe and all that means.