Afghan Insurgents Die In Explosion From IED

Now this is some terrorist activity I can get behind, and it didn't cost us a dime:


I'm glad the kid made it out OK but I fear that we'll just be fighting him in a few years anyway. The war in Afghanistan is something I've been thinking about a lot lately. I just don't see a winning strategy for either staying or leaving, thus I've pretty much come to the conclusion that we should just cut our losses and get out. Unfortunately President Obama has decided to double-down our forces there; it's one of many policy decisions he's made since taking office that I find myself at odds with.

Now don't get me wrong, I'd still love to either capture or kill Osama bin Laden but let's be honest: Those are some pretty long odds right now and even if we did achieve that goal I suspect that Al Qaeda would keep right on keeping on, although they've definitely hit a low point in their popularity and effectiveness within the Arab world. And then there's this to consider: What if our taking out bin Laden is just what Al Qaeda needs to revive and rally more believers to their cause? That's not to say that we still shouldn't try to erase his bearded ass but in my experience religious nuts love a good martyr and we should be prepared to accept the regional repercussions of said actions.

But then what happens there when we leave? The recent election between current president Hamid Karzai and challenger Abdullah Abdullah (the man so nice, they Abdullahed him twice) has been marred with U.N. allegations of voter fraud that could lead to a run-off election that must be completed as soon as possible so as not to leave this incendiary country essentially rudderless until next summer. The Taliban and other insurgents have started to step up their terror campaigns in the face of increased U.S. military activity and to be completely honest: We're flat broke right now. Plus, every historical precedent I look at says that we could be there for decades and still not pacify the country, much less install a legitimate and functional government. And on top of everything else, there's next door neighbor Pakistan and their precarious nuclear arsenal to consider.

While I obviously don't agree with Obama's decisions on this issue to date, I do hope that he's successful in this endeavour and that right soon. Otherwise, Afghanistan could become the modern day Vietnam in a relatively clumsy modern day Iraq/Korea analogy. I don't know about you (and I'm definitely not an advocate for total U.S. isolationism by any means) but I'm getting pretty fucking tired of being the world's police force. And we're still paying people good money not to grow poppies there. What the hell?