Back                                   The war in Afghanistan:    Since the election
 
   We finally got it right. Well almost. I was elated when we started the war in Afghanistan, not only was it necessary but it freed the people from far worst tyrants then Saddam Hussein and we had a world wide coalition.
   577 Americans have died in Afghanistan as of 08/28/08. 907 Coalition troops have died.  937 - 577 = 360 so were paying the price in Afghanistan too. However in Afghanistan it's probably a price worth paying. At least it would have been if we had left enough troops in the country to protect the new government. Time will tell.
    I really felt that we had a chance to capture or kill most of the al-Qa'ida leaders including Ben Laden after all we had them cornered in Tora Bora but then we blew it. From the Washington Post April 17, 2002 (The Bush administration has concluded that Osama bin Laden was present during the battle for Tora Bora late last year and that failure to commit U.S. ground troops to hunt him was its gravest error in the war against al Qaeda, according to civilian and military officials with first-hand knowledge.) How many mistakes can we endure?
   Since the start of that war we: 1. Pulled a lot of the troops out of the theater, in order to start the was in Iraq. Leaving Hamid Karazai to try to pull the country together with far few troops. 2. Sent a small force of our troops along with Afghan troops to capture or kill Ben Laden when he was trapped on Tora Bora instead of using a large force of our own troops, allowing him to escape. 3. Not fully funded the reconstruction. (A large, very large portion of the funds allocated for the reconstruction was diverted to start the Iraq war.) 
   Now the Taliban are regrouping and using terror on not only our troops but the new Afghan government and people. (Recently a bus was pulled over on a remote road, the women ask to disembark and any of them who had voter registration cards were shot.)
   About 3/4ths of the worlds supply of opium will come out of Afghanistan this year. It will fund terrorism. We haven't helped the farmers with things like irrigation, seed crops, farm equipment, education, etc. to help them produce other crops. A Starving population will do what is necessary to survive even if growing poppies is against there religion.
   Will there again be al-Qa'ida training camps in Afghanistan? There will be if we don't finish the job we started.
   8/30/04 Ops! I just heard on CNN that there the Taliban are growing larger in southern Afghanistan & that there are more al-Qaeda in the north then there were a few weeks ago.
   10/7/04: CNN -- KABUL, Afghanistan -- A rocket has exploded above the U.S. military compound in Kabul, Afghanistan, on the eve of the country's landmark presidential elections, a spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force said.
   George Bush keeps painting such a rosy picture of the situation in Afghanistan but it's just another example of his incompetence. 
 
   10/10/04: (CNN) KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- There is no reason to nullify results from Saturday's presidential election in Afghanistan, despite voting irregularities that caused the opposition candidates to demand a new election, according to the head of an international group monitoring the process. Shortly after the polls opened at 7 a.m., 14 of the 15 candidates running against Karzai threw the election into turmoil when they banded together to charge voter fraud. They vowed not to honor the election results, and to demand another balloting, after protesting problems with the ink used to help ensure fairness.
                                 Most of these candidates are War Lords, So let's just wait and see.
   11/19/04: (CNN) BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- Heroin production is booming in Afghanistan, undermining democracy and putting money in the coffers of terrorists, according to a U.N. report that calls on U.S. and NATO-led forces get more involved in fighting drug traffickers.
   11/28/04: (CNN) At least three people have been killed as Taliban militants attacked an aid office in southwestern Afghanistan, officials said.  We are going to see much more of this when Iraq finally has it's elections. Peace will not come easy. We had/have to do it here, we didn't have to do in in Iraq.
   12/11/04: (CNN) U.S. opens winter offensive in Afghanistan.18,000-troop push aims to convince Taliban to accept amnesty.  KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- About 18,000 American troops have started a winter-long operation against Taliban rebels in Afghanistan, vowing to eliminate insurgents who could threaten parliamentary elections slated for the spring. I just have to wonder how far along Afghanistan would be if we had put as much effort into it as we have in Iraq.
   12/17/04: (CNN) KABUL, Afghanistan (Reuters) -- Afghan soldiers killed two prisoners holed up in Kabul's Pul-i-Charki jail Friday after a day-long siege that started when a group of inmates identified as al Qaeda killed their guards in an attempted jailbreak.
 
   Is Jeb Bush going to have to run for president to finish up the job that his brother started in Afghanistan? I mean George Bush is trying to finish the job his father started in Iraq. The only difference is that their father was right not to remove the Hussein regime. Their father realized the instability that it would cause, not only on Iraq but the whole region. Afghanistan however is a different story. With the Taliban defeated and with our help, if we had given it, Afghanistan with Hamid Karazai leading it might have been a stabilizing force in the region & a good ally to the west. It still could be but we have to give them the help they need.