Afghanistan Blog

In an opinion piece written by Dexter Filkins of the NY Times, many people speculate on how Afghanistan has been affected by the U.S. invasion of Iraq. This article says many people were too optimistic about the situation in Afghanistan with the overthrowing of the Taliban. The U.S. pulled many of its troops in Kabul and other parts of Afghanistan and sent them to Iraq, leaving many Afghan citizens without hope or security. One aid worker in Kabul was quoted saying “This is the tragedy. This is for the history books — the $70 billion that would have given you enough police and army to stabilize this place all went to Iraq.” The war in Iraq is already extremely unpopular both in the U.S. and abroad, so people are really referring to the removal of help in Afghanistan as a tragedy.
I had never thought of the situation in this way before. When you speculate on the Iraq war, many people only see the U.S. spending money, and Iraq in a state or disarray. One rarely thinks about how other countries are going to be hurt because we are spending our efforts in Iraq instead of helping other countries in need. Recently, though, the U.S. has been watching Afghanistan more closely. People are seeing the country as more of a threat than they have in the past few years because we have been so centered around Iraq.


Many U.S. lawmakers have announced that a new, clear strategy for Afghanistan. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi stressed that the U.S. is looking for the cooperation of other NATO members in dealing with Afghanistan. President Obama recently ordered a 17,000 troop increase aimed at eliminating the Taliban and making sure Afghanistan does not become a breeding ground for terrorists. Pelosi’s address also called upon certain countries, including India, China, Iran, and Russia, to help the U.S. is returning stability to Afghanistan. This article also stated that the U.S. is about 7.5 years late in making a clear plan for Afghanistan, so we must act quickly and with allies.
I agree with the announcement to make a clear and concise plan for dealing with Afghanistan. It seems we have overlooked the country especially after 9/11 because we were so concerned with Iraq. I also think we should not move ahead without the help of other NATO members. Some people say we went into Iraq without enough allies and people who really believed in our cause. This may be true, and I think we need to make sure we have a sufficient amount of allies along our side and agreeing with our plan before we do much more in Afghanistan. I think it is necessary we do something to help restore the country to stability and make sure terrorists are not planning and training in Afghanistan.


John McCain said Wednesday that the U.S. is officially losing the war in Afghanistan. He said we do not have enough troops in the country, and that it is becoming an al Qaeda safe haven, as we have tried to prevent it from being. McCain also said we need to spend more money on better headquarters in Afghanistan, and send thousands of more troops to help the situation. McCain also said that most likely things will get worse before they get better. He noted that instead of the original increase of the Afghani army to between 68,000 and 134,000 troops, it should be increased to between 160,000 and 200,000 troops. This is a much larger number, but many people think the more troops the better to create stability, and anything less than 160,000 would be ineffective.
Another part of the article mentioned how Afghanistan not only needs military support, but civilian support as well. This would include boosting the economy so that drug trade is not as much of a problem. I think this is extremely important; it is not just the military that will turn Afghanistan around; it is the normal civilians as well. Afghanistan provides about two thirds of the world’s heroine and opium. This is a huge percentage, and is not often talked about in the news. I think McCain is right in that we need to be focusing on Afghanistan more, and even though Americans do not want war and would hate to see more troops go overseas, it is necessary to at least do something to help the instability and drug trade there.