Reply #7: I think you have touched on two important questions there... [View All]

[phantom power]

1) How long does it actually take, and I have no doubt it takes a while. If they told me it would take a year to get everybody out, I wouldn't be at all surprised.

2) When do we actually start?


I'm much more interested in (2). I realize that the argument is, if we wait, we can somehow stabilize the region. That's the 64 billion dollar question, isn't it? My position is that whenever we leave, Afghanistan is then going to be on its own, and it is very likely to revert to whatever conflicts it was having before we got there. I do not think that staying an extra year, or 5 years, or 10 years, is going to change that equation.

Obama may believe that they can stabilize something and then go home. I believe that is overly optimistic. Obviously he gets to make that decision. He is the Decider! So, we'll see what we will see. Meanwhile, I haven't yet seen anything to change my opinion.