{"id":1045,"date":"2009-02-17T18:52:15","date_gmt":"2009-02-18T02:52:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/2009\/02\/17\/whats-next-in-afghanistan\/"},"modified":"2009-02-18T09:50:48","modified_gmt":"2009-02-18T17:50:48","slug":"whats-next-in-afghanistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/1045\/whats-next-in-afghanistan\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s Next in Afghanistan?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"afghanistan.png\"<\/p>\n

By Ralph E. Stone<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

February 17, 2009<\/p>\n

President Obama announced today he is sending 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan. \u00c2\u00a0 But he is still faced with a decision about what to do long term in Afghanistan, and with worldwide terrorism. \u00c2\u00a0If there is one point of agreement between Republicans and Democrats, it is that the U.S. war in Afghanistan was a legitimate response to the September 11 attacks, mainly aimed at bringing Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda to justice–unlike the invasion and occupation of Iraq, which was bogus, based on the Bush\u00c2\u00a0administration’s falsehoods regarding Iraq’s possession of weapons of mass destruction and Saddam Hussein’s links to al Qaeda.<\/p>\n

President Obama and Congress must now deal with the root causes of terrorism in Afghanistan and around the world, i.e<\/em>., poverty, repression, and a sense of injustice that many Muslims feel at the hands of their U.S.-backed governments. \u00c2\u00a0After all, terrorism was not a sudden anti-Americanism, but the result of past American policy failures. Muslims don’t hate our freedom; they hate our policies. \u00c2\u00a0And our image abroad was not helped by our promoting or condoning torture, disappearances, secret jails, and rendition. \u00c2\u00a0Troops and money are not long term solutions to the war in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

What is the cost of the Afghanistan war so far? \u00c2\u00a0As of January 29, 640 Americans have died and 1,722 have been seriously wounded; 11,017 Afghan troops and 7,373 civilians have been killed; and 33,051 Afghan troops and 13,271 civilians have been seriously injured. The estimated dollar cost for the war in Afghanistan is estimated to reach $439.8 billion by the end of FY 2009 and at the current rate of spending, could reach $1 trillion by the end of Obama’s first term. \u00c2\u00a0Can we afford this expenditure, especially with our faltering economy?<\/p>\n

What have we achieved so far? \u00c2\u00a0The Taliban have reorganized and now control over 70 percent of the country – up from 50 percent in November 2007 -\u00c2\u00a0 where they collect taxes, enforce Sharia law, and dispense rough justice. \u00c2\u00a0But they do succeed in containing crime and corruption, which characterizes Hamid Karzai’s rule. \u00c2\u00a0The Taliban is even threatening to surround Kabul.<\/p>\n

In addition, neighboring Pakistan — our reluctant ally in fighting the Taliban — is suffering a meltdown under Asif Ali Zardari. \u00c2\u00a0His government has lost control of the North West Frontier Province to the Pakistani Taliban, who now control the Khyber Pass, the key route between Pakistan and Aghanistan through which 70 percent of supplies for U.S. troops pass. The U.S. is now forced to seek alternative routes. \u00c2\u00a0And it was recently reported that Pakistan is about to agree to ca ease-fire allowing the imposition of Islamic law in the Swat Valley, which will likely increase Taliban influence. \u00c2\u00a0Islamic law is already in effect along the Afghan border and elsewhere in Pakistan’s northwest.<\/p>\n

Before the U.S. sends more troops or spends more money in Afghanistan, Congress must have full and open hearings on the future of our war on terrorism. \u00c2\u00a0Congress cannot just continue to rubber stamp further expenditures of manpower and money as it did during the Bush administration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ralph E. Stone February 17, 2009 President Obama announced today he is sending 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan. \u00c2\u00a0 But he is still faced with a decision about what to do long term in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1230,"featured_media":1046,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat's Next in Afghanistan? - Fog City Journal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/1045\/whats-next-in-afghanistan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What's Next in Afghanistan? - Fog City Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Ralph E. 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