In October, the war in Afghanistan will be 16 years and counting. It started when President
George W. Bush sent U.S. forces there to bring Bin Laden to justice after his attack on America on 9/11/01. The war was also for the stated purpose of destroying the Taliban who allowed training camps to be set up in their country to train terrorists. The war did not bring Bin Laden to justice or destroy the Taliban.
And now, almost 16 years later, reports are circulating that President Trump will send approximately 4000 more U.S. Troops to that country to try and bring that same Taliban under control who controls more territory once again and are a threat to the Afghan government and U. S. troops. And in fact in the last two months 5 U.S. Troops have been killed and 7 wounded.
It is a war with no limits and factions among the Afghan people who have yet to find a way to govern themselves. Ten years of war and Russian occupation and soon to be 16 years of U.S. occupation and war has not solved the problem. So now a U.S. troop surge of 4000 troops is supposed to bring the country together. We have been there and done that and the results never seem to match the promises.
In March of this year the Iraq war hit its 14 year and still counting. It was a war and occupation over WMD that did not exist and ordered by President George W. Bush. It was a war of lies including the statement that Saddam was a threat to the national security of the U.S. and that our troops would be welcomed as liberators. It was a war with terrible consequence to our men and women in uniform and America's intelligence community for being used by the President and Vice President for the purpose to remake the middle east.
Because the stated purpose was a lie and failure, Iraq was destabilized. That opened the country and its doors for Al Queda in Iraq to enter, kill a lot of Americans and then expanded to ISIS and other terror groups never heard of before. ISIS took it to the most extreme level and spread their terror all through the middle east and beyond. Almost every country in the middle east is fighting terrorists or some forces within their own country. The civil war in Syria is still raging and could blow up any minute in a full scale war. And our U.S. troops are smack in the middle and still there. Good thing President Obama had the wisdom to move most of our troops out of harms way. But those that are still there still can not always define the enemy. Some of the latest troops death came at the hands of some Afghan government troops that were trained by our men and women in uniform.
After 14 and 16 years it is late, but it is time for congress to step in and show leadership. War is the is the responsibility of congress not just the President. Our men and women in uniform have paid the price for too long and congress and the President need to decide and identify the real threat to our country's national security. Tough talk has had no effect on solving the problems in Iraq or Afghanistan or ending the occupation. Leadership, responsibility and wisdom are in need now more than ever before. The most powerful military and economic country in the world needs to change its thinking.
This commentary written by Joe Lorio
