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Rethinking Afghanistan

This week the debate about whether we should gather more troops or not in Afghanistan has heated up, but the real issue of determining what the objective for America’s presence has not been debated. The underlying reality that should drive this debate is determining what the real threat is and where the threat exists. The harsh reality is the main threat we have been campaigning against is Al Qaeda, which has long since moved to Pakistan. The other issue we have to consider is what the Taliban’s primary goals are, which do not involve planning any attacks in the United States. The Taliban’s agenda has nationalistic roots with a desire to remove foreign occupiers, which makes it clear that America’s threat is not in Afghanistan.

This echoes the same reasons why the North Vietnamese turned to Communism, which was to remove French colonial rule to regain their sovereignty. The Taliban are an ingrained part of the nation of Afghanistan and will align with Al Qaeda or anyone who is willing to work with them to regain their sovereignty back. Excluding the Taliban has been a fatal flaw from day one and any revised strategy should not call for more troops; instead, we should engage the Taliban. Doing this will create another political ally in the region to overcome the real enemy, which is Al Qaeda.

Of course, the Republicans will call this strategy surrender when, in fact, Senate Republican Majority Leader Bill Frist was championing this in 2006. Frist stated then that the Taliban could not be defeated militarily and promptly advocated to bring “people who call themselves Taliban” and their allies into the Afghan government. After 9/11, America had the world in her hands, but cowboy politics demolished it’s strong standing the world. It is imperative that we revise the current strategy and ensure we do not increase the amount of forces in Afghanistan. I ask you to join me in supporting Representative Barbara Lee’s bill H.R. 3699, which would prohibit any increase in troops or funding to be used for that purpose.