Doubling our Efforts in Afghanistan

Last night President Obama addressed an auditorium full of servicemen and women , as well as the rest of the nation, to inform us of his plans in Afghanistan, to justify his actions, and to layout a timeline.

His policy on Afghanistan was always that we would beef up our efforts there, which people seem to have forgotten. He wanted to pull out of Iraq and focus on Afghanistan, which he is doing. People have been flustered recently with his failures to uphold other campaign promises, which may be causing some confusion. The Afghanistan issue is not to be confused with his promises on Guantanamo Bay, which he said would be closed in 18 months (FAIL). Or his stance on freezing illegal settlement building in Israel (EPIC FAIL).

But in many ways people are starting to view Afghanistan as another Vietnam, which the president addressed in his speech. He noted that Afghanistan was different from Vietnam in one very big way - the terrorists who (allegedly) attacked the U.S. live there. Now, I know it sounds conspiracy-theoretical, but there has been no proof or trial to say that the exact masterminds of the 9/11 attacks are living in territorial Afghanistan as opposed to anywhere else in the world. I seem to remember in 2001 when the attacks happened that everyone said the enemy was among us, living in the U.S.. Afterall, all of the hijacked flights were domestic flights. But Former President Bush grabbed his shotgun and threw on his britches and ran after the ambiguous enemy in Afghanistan almost immediately after the attacks, basing his decision on secret intelligence. 8 years later, that secret intelligence has never been tested, but we are doubling our efforts in the region.

Now, I am definitely interested in making sure Americans are safe and, if there is a threat in Afghanistan, neutralizing it. We started the job, we got 2 sides formed, we have Afghanis fighting against Afghanis and policemen being attacked and a corrupt leader in the region. Now is definitely NOT the time to throw our hands up and say we tried. By this point, we have gotten in too deep to back out.

One thing I noticed: the most poignant point in the president's address was at the very end when he went down to shake hands with the servicemen and women who were in the front rows of the auditorium; our brave soldiers clamored for attention, eagerly sticking out their hands, hoping to shake the hand of the man who has just torn them from their families and sent them to the front lines of guerrilla warfare. How ironic. Either they believe in his message wholeheartedly, or he just has that much star power.

It is rather unfortunate that President Obama is now being viewed as the reason we are sending in more troops. He is not. He is simply managing the mess and doing the only thing we can do - finish what we started. It will definitely be a reminder of the Vietnam war and if we win, people will always say "Ahhhh that's what would have happened! We should have stayed in Vietnam." But if we lose, be prepared for people to say "We should have shot Obama like we shot Kennedy." As ancient military strategist Sun Tzu once said "Know thy self, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories."