You CAN Go Home Again (And Should)

It’s high time we left Afghanistan. Bin Laden is dead, the Afghan government is rebuilding, and our soldiers are literally going crazy with the stress of too many tours of duty.

Supporters of continued military action say the U.S. is defeating al-Qaeda and the Taliban, and withdrawing troops would be a setback to the war on terrorism. Furthermore, they say that continued U.S. presence there is necessary to make sure the democratic government in Afghanistan will continue.

I’m not saying we should discontinue military action against terrorist networks—quite the opposite, continued operations against them have saved countless lives since the Twin Towers fell. However, the eviction of the Taliban from power signaled the end of the traditional warfare soldiers are meant to fight. It’s past time for the Afghan government to quit holding our hand and actually govern their country. American soldiers have been in Afghanistan for over a decade and worked tirelessly to form a military from the indigenous population (because there is no way that could come back to bite us).

Afghanistan lost all sovereignty the day its government refused to hand over Osama bin Laden—but that government is gone, reduced to a ghost of its former self as it cowers in mountains. Our purpose going into Afghanistan was to remove the Taliban from power, establish a constitutionally-based government, and above all exterminate Osama bin Laden and his followers. We’ve accomplished the first two, and although I won’t say “Mission Accomplished” on the third criteria, a continued combination of drone strikes and pressure from the Afghan military will keep them at bay long enough for the interim government to win the hearts of the people.