Remind Me- Why are We in Afghanistan?

I need reminding why international troops are in Afghanistan.

Today it would appear that theU.S.and other nations are in talks with the Taliban. Why couldn’t this have been done several years and thousands of lives ago?

President Karzai of course, is denying such talks exist. He would, he does not want the peace. He is doing quite well, thank you very much.

His country is riddled with corruption and willingly receives 40% of its income from donor nations. If the war stops, much of these donations would also stop.

Karzai though, has not taken any serious actions to prevent corruption. It is he and his elite who are the recipients after all.

Now Afghanistan says they cannot deal with a new crisis involving the Kabul bank, at this time because all the Ministers are on summer break.

Hello Mr. Karzai, in case you did not know it, there is a war going on in your country. Many soldiers from around the World are being killed daily. Soldiers are wishing they could get a summer break. At least your ministers are in the same country as their families and can see them on a daily basis.

Hello again Mr. Karzai. Your country is full of corruption; you and your ministers are siphoning off money that hard working people from around the World donated to help your people. This despite, there is a World recession meaning many workers from those same donor countries cannot take summer vacations this year.

OK, I agree that the Taliban should not be allowed to run a country but then again should Karzai?

It is a clear sign of which of the two evils? But is that our place to decide? Perhaps we should now leave Afghanistan to the Afghans to sort out their own future.

For centuries Afghanistan has survived despite its own form of tribal conflicts. The Soviets, despite ten years of trying could not alter their course, now it seems nor can the rest of the World, so let’s leave it to them.

Yes, you say but the Taliban Harbored and allowed training camps for Al-Qaeda.

True but so did Libya, Sudan, Yemen and others. I don’t see us fighting all of them.

All this trouble started in Afghanistan when the U.S. trained the Taliban to fight, in order to resist the Soviet Forces. It is time to say, things have gone full circle and leave them to their own devices.

So, to sum up. I know why, rightly or wrongly, we started fighting in Afghanistan but surely now, with the death of Bin Laden and the corruption of the Afghan Government, isn’t it time we brought the soldiers home and let them get a summer break?