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Home › Politics

Question of the Day | 10/13/2009 4:00 am

To ensure that there are no safe havens for terrorists, would you support keeping troops in Afghanistan for the next five years?

Liz Smith, Joan Ganz Cooney and Candice Bergen discuss the cost of safety.
© Shutterstock
Liz Smith

Liz Smith | 10/13/2009 12:00 am

Liz Smith Fears Another Vietnam

I don’t know. I want the president to decide this fateful question. I fear we are damned if we do and damned if we don’t. But this is why I voted for Barack Obama and I don’t believe in second-guessing him for the rest of his term and adding to the confusion and hatefulness that is going on. I do fear another Vietnam.

comments19 Comments
Candice Bergen

Candice Bergen | 10/13/2009 12:00 am

Candice Bergen: Where Are the Terrorists?

Afghanistan? I thought we were shifting our focus to Pakistan. That’s where Al-Qaeda is said to be hanging these days. The Taliban is supposedly no threat to the West. Unless they team up. Which they are wont to do.

comments18 Comments
Joan Ganz Cooney

Joan Ganz Cooney | 10/13/2009 12:00 am

Joan Ganz Cooney on the Argument of War

I have heard so many smart and knowledgeable people argue both sides of this question that I have no idea what the right answer is. The big question for me always is how many American soldiers’ lives is it worth, not to mention civilians in Afghanistan? That question almost always turns me against the war option.

comments6 Comments
Read more about: Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda, Politics, Terrorism, War

163 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

Lila Kuh

Susan, FWIW, we ARE doing a sort of Marshall Plan in Afghanistan, in terms of road improvements, building schools and clinics, putting in wells, crop and land improvement, and similar projects.  We have established Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) which are made up of hundreds of people - a mix of military and civilian experts working with the local people - whose mission this is.  It is still dangerous, but very worthwhile. 

This year I lost a good friend who was then in command of the Panjshir PRT; killed by an IED.  But he had made, and his team still is making, such a great impression on the locals there.  Local leaders came out to render aid alongside our military at the attack site, and even sent condolences to his widow.  They were adamant that "this was not done by our people."  And I believe them.

Here are some news stories of the team’s accomplishments; and the loss of their commander.

http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123145225

http://www.cjtf101.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1596…

http://www.bagram.afcent.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-090511-017.pdf

http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2009/05/airforce_afghan_deaths_052709w…

By Lila Kuh on 10/14/2009 8:40 am
Susan Crawford
Thank you, Lila, not only for your thoughtful response, but for the links you provided. I am glad to hear this, and I hope that we can deepen this commitment to helping Afghanis build a peaceful and secure nation. They - and we - deserve nothing less.
By Susan Crawford on 10/15/2009 9:14 am
Leanette T
No! Saying that we are in Afghanistan to keep the US safe from terrorism is fear mongering and part of the last administration’s propaganda.  We need to help in Afghanistan because we elected a government that waged war on mostly false information/grounds - and since we are already there we might as well help the women who were given a small measure of freedom when the US pushed out the Taliban.  If we leave now those women will be inslaved again - and in many cases tortured and killed.  We need to stay and clean up the messes we make!  
By Leanette T on 10/13/2009 11:29 pm
Frank Somsel

This is what the Tailban does now. Make sure you watch this 3 minute video with volume turned up. It will make you sick. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6022878.ece

This is what the Taliban did in Afghan before Bush. http://www.rawa.org/murder-w.htm

 

By Frank Somsel on 10/14/2009 12:24 am
Marjorie C.

Leanette:  If we leave now those women will be inslaved again - and in many cases tortured and killed.  We need to stay and clean up the messes we make!  

Whether we leave now or in five years from now, those women will suffer the same fate.  Afghanistan is a collection of tribes occupying a territory, we never created that "country" or its "government."  Their way of life reflects centuries.  Why would we think if the U.S. doesn’t approve of how they conduct themselves, that they would even care?  If anything, like all good tribes, they will defend their way of life even more forcefully.  As I’ve said before, it would take two generations of education and occupation and Taliban containment to change the mindset of the population.  The Taliban have to become grandfathers telling their stories around the campfire, not young men with weapons ready to defend their tribal way of life.   

By Marjorie C. on 10/14/2009 7:08 am
F P
Two generations?  A lot more than that I’m afraid.
By F P on 10/14/2009 7:56 am
Lauriate Roly
Absolutely.
By Lauriate Roly on 10/14/2009 9:00 am
Leanette T
Hello, Marjorie,.  Yes, their way of life reflects centuries of tribal rule but that can change.  "…the education of woman is more necessary and important than that of man, for woman is the trainer of the child from its infancy. If she be defective and imperfect herself, the child will necessarily be deficient; therefore, imperfection of woman implies a condition of imperfection in all mankind…(Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 133)

My point is - the more women who are educated the better it will be for everyone, therefore, the longer we are there the more women there will be who have had a chance to become educated and pass that education onto their children who will grow up to see the error of their grandfather’s generation.  

As a country, we had no right to go into Afghanistan (except to disable Al Qaeda strongholds) but we did and now that we are there we have the obligation to stay on a while longer - or and until, the United Nations pulls out all support.

The US has a bad reputation of starting wars then running home when the going gets tough and that reputation only emboldens terrorist organizations… I’ve said enough, and its just my opinion, after-all.  I’m just grateful that I was given the education and the opportunity to raise my children to be more civilized than their forebearers.

God bless and keep you well. 

By Leanette T on 10/15/2009 3:36 am
Lizzie R.
OMG!!!!! NO, NO, NO!!!!!
By Lizzie R. on 10/14/2009 12:46 am
Anne B
Afghanistan is a doomed country. Look what happened to former USSR. US should wake up to the reality and stop letting the blood of it’s soldier flow for no reason in a foreign land.
By Anne B on 10/14/2009 3:51 am
Maggie W

It is becoming more apparent that President Karzai engaged in massive fraud to win the election.  It is, as columnist Thomas Friedman says, like a Mafia family is running the government. Until Karzai, if he is indeed the President now, cleans up his government and quits firing the best and most honest men in Afghanistan, then why on earth should we commit even one more soldier?  Why support such a government with more American blood?

The USA cannot possibly succeed with a corrupt partner.  Why support any government people cannot live under peacefully and honestly, a government that allows them to prosper individually and in the world community.  Sending 40,000 or 400,000 more troops  won’t make any difference.  It only delays defeat. The Afghan people need to know that we will not proceed with that type of governance.  If Karzai refuses to step up, then bring our troops home and let him deal with the Taliban. 

 

By Maggie W on 10/14/2009 10:18 am
F P
I agree—let the Afghanis deal with the narcotics, the corruption and the Taliban. 
By F P on 10/14/2009 10:54 am
Maggie W

Exactly.  Afghan police are dying every day because they are trying to hide from the Taliban. The Afghan Army will not show up when the Taliban, a keen economic organization, offers far better pay.

 Our initial objective has been met.  The USA wanted to deny Al Qaeda a place to meet, train, and plot major terror attacks.  14 of 20 Al Qaeda leaders have been killed by drones. Their funding is drying up as well.  Al Qaeda is now in Pakistan.  All attacks that have emanated have come from Pakistan.  There is little evidence that Pakistani generals truly accept they must give greater attention and energy to defeating all jihadis in their country.  Meanwhile , the US spends $65 billion a year in Afghanistan where there are already currently 100,000 US /Allies troops.  Why?  We don’t train Marines to build roads, dig ditches, or teach the newest techniques in gardening.

 Eight years and the clock is still ticking .

By Maggie W on 10/14/2009 12:12 pm
F P
Yep the Taliban have changed their strategy:  they now present themselves a peace keepers in Afghanistan and they’re succeeding.
By F P on 10/14/2009 1:47 pm
Callie O
You may be surprised to know I agree.  Too much blood has already been spilled on that miserable ground.  I say bring them all home, and put them on our southern border. 
By Callie O on 10/14/2009 4:15 pm
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