The Lost War in Afghanistan

President Obama announced his decision last night to send 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan for a period of 18 months. His decision, while not surprising, is disheartening to a person who not only supported him from the beginning, but has given him the benefit of the doubt through a tough first year in office. While I am not ready to abandon all hope on our new president's failure to provide the type of change I had envisioned during his campaign, time is ticking on him to start moving this country in the right direction.

Not that I or anyone else should be surprised at the move to send more troops to Afghanistan, considering he said throughout the campaign that he intended to focus our military efforts on the war, including the growing threat of terrorism in Pakistan for that matter. So it is hard to get upset or say, as some people have suggested, that he stole their vote. I think many people just wanted to hear what they wanted to hear when it came to Obama during the election and missed a lot of the substance.

But when I think of all the wasted lives and money, I can't help but know this is the wrong decision. Plus while President Obama uses many of the same arguments George W. Bush once did (i.e. attacks of 9/11, threat of al Qaeda) to sell the war, I just don't understand how we can think fighting a war in a third world country, against an enemy that couldn't even be picked out of a police line-up, is going to make America more safe. If anything our presence in Afghanistan, and our lack of focus on domestic issues at home, is what is making our nation more vulnerable to a terrorist attack.

What we should be doing is withdrawing from the Middle East, re-energizing our military at home, putting money into strengthening our boarders, but not to a degree where it jeopardizes our freedoms, because as Patrick Henry so famously proclaimed "give me liberty or give me death," and focusing our efforts on reducing the deficit, creating jobs, investing in energy and funding domestic programs like education and health care to ensure the future prosperity of America. If president Obama was to see this type of "change" then we could be on a road to prosperity and not constantly defending our interests against our fears of the world - for "there is nothing to fear but fear itself."

Not that I don't understand the president's reasoning and refusal to allow America to fail in a country that harbors the type of monsters that are the biggest threat to American security. Plus I know he doesn't feel President Bush ever did enough to make America successful in Afghanistan in the first place and Obama wants to give us the chance to win the war. As he said during the campaign "I am not against all wars, but I am against dumb wars."

While the number of additional troops is a problem for most Democrats, Republicans have a problem with the 18 month time table that intends to start withdrawing troops in the summer of 2011. This on the other hand is probably the one aspect of the plan that pleases most Democrats, because it sets a date we would like to believe will signal the end of the war. Of course, that withdrawl date hinders on how things are going on the ground, but you have to imagine if Obama expects to get re-elected in 2012 he will be withdrawing those troops no later than the summer of that year.

While this is a major blow to all of us Democrats, we have to give the president we elected a chance to do what he thinks is right for our nation. For if you were listening during the campaign you would have realized then that he intended to focus our efforts on the war in Afghanistan. Not that it makes his decision right, but if we are going to get through this the president has one right idea, we must be "united." And that is why I am giving the president my full-support until the summer of 2011. But if the troops aren't starting to come home at that time, then I have to withdraw my vote on election day 2012.