If the Afghans have waited 10 year for us to leave do you think they could wait another 10 or 20?

[NNN0LHI]

I keep hearing the argument that we can't tell the Afghans when we are leaving or they will just wait us out. Does that make sense? Of course they will wait us out. Whether it is another year or a couple more decades. They aren't going anywhere. They live there. They will keep killing us until we leave. Right now it is Afghans who were 5 or 6 years old on 9/11/01 who we are fighting. Does someone think these Afghans we are fighting now were involved in the planning of 9/11? The soldiers we are now sending over there were only 8 or 9 years old back then. Think about that. Pretty soon its going to be kids who weren't even born yet on 9/11/01 killing one another in Afghanistan. If we don't go bankrupt first that is.

Are we nuts?

Don

[Swamp Rat]

1. We haven't dropped enough depleted uranium on them yet

Once their population is reduced to a manageable number, and they are no longer a threat to the pipelines, we will "leave."

[PacerLJ35]

14. You don't "drop" depleted uranium...

DU is used as a kinetic weapon such as ballistic rounds and tank shells....not bombs. Most of the rounds used in Afghanistan are not DU rounds. Tank sabot rounds and larger-caliber 20-30mm rounds can have DU in them...but small caliber weapons, bombs, rockets and others do not use DU.

[Swamp Rat]

18. Of course we don't "drop" it like an anvil.

We've been discussing depleted uranium for years on DU.

We use depleted uranium to harden the rounds in order to penetrate targets, maximizing kinetic force. Upon impact it pulverizes into a fine dust, which remains at that location and/or is picked up by the wind, eventually killing American soldiers and civilians (uranium exposure). Nasty stuff.

[spooked911]

2. doesn't matter

the Powers That Be have decided we need to be there and so we will spend precious lives and resources being there.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

3. The rationale now is that "we have to fight them there so we don't have to fight them here."

Sound familiar?

[applegrove]

4. I heard Bill Clinton being interviewed. He said America has to become

part of the hometeam to win in Afghanistan. The locals don't care about al qaeda but American does. Somehow the US has to be perceived as being on the side of the locals for the locals to fight along side us.

[NNN0LHI]

5. If someone came and bombed and occupied America I could never be on those peoples team

Even if the occupiers were standing on the street corner handing out hundred dollar bills and free Butterball turkeys I would hate them forever. And I would teach my children to hate them also.

As long as they had me by gunpoint I would be like, "Yes sir. No sir. How are you doing today sir? Can I help you sir?"

But as soon as they turned their backs that would change.

Don

[Edweird]

9. I'm sure we're just a few bombed weddings away from 'turning the corner'....

[kenny blankenship]

13. "Somehow"

Maybe if we spoke their language and practiced their religion.

Nah!

[amborin]

17. al queda is in Pakistan, Germany, Miami, Canada, Yemen, etc.....

[Rex]

6. You would think we would have learned lessons from history, but no

America has policy makers that don't care if we lose military professionals - it won't affect them or their families million dollar lifestyle! The ruling elite don't go off and die in wars, so if we have to force our troops to die for decades over someone elses resources (we want) we will!

[G_j]

7. great reality check

would make a great op-ed.

[Edweird]

8. Afghanistan is the graveyard of empires. They have all the time in the world.

Our existence as a country, however, depends on us getting the fuck out out of that godforsaken hellhole as fast as possible.

[KonaKane]

10. The Afghanis have a historical habit of chasing out or waiting out occupiers.

None of them get a permanent stay.

[bahrbearian]

11. It depends on how much more they can milk from our treasury in 10 years from now

and I'm not talking about the Afgani's

[bahrbearian]

12. It depends on how much more they can milk from our treasury in 10 years from now

and I'm not talking about the Afgani's

[PacerLJ35]

15. Many Afghans want something else besides the Taliban...

This notion that we're just running amok in their country killing women and children right and left isn't even close to being true.

[Hekate]

16. Graveyard of Empires. It's their territory, their tribes, their mountains. They can wait forever.

All the bombs in the world are not going to truly "defeat" anyone who wants to keep fighting. We can turn it into a nuclear wasteland and it will be dust and ashes in OUR mouths.

George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and the rest of the idiot Neocons should rot in Hell for not getting us out of there.

Hekate