Afghanistan Eight Years Later

Eight years ago yesterday the USA attack Al Qaeda locations in Afghanistan after the ruling Taliban party refused to turn over Osama bin Laden and his henchmen after the 9/11 attack.

For eight years the USA and allies have been involved in trying to hunt down and wipe out Al Qaeda, in Afghanistan and where ever else they are hiding.

Unfortunately this war got side tracked when the Bush Administration decided to focus their attention on Iraq.

Now focus is returning to Afghanistan, but big talk and promises are fading and the Obama Administration is face with dealing with the realities.

The Afghan people are not happy with Karzai. I cannot blame them because there seems to be a lot of corruption. At the same time, the majority do not appear to want a return of Taliban control. I sympathize with that because I would not want to be ruled by archaic Middle Age laws applied by fanatics armed with AK47s.

What I believe the USA needs to do is refocus on the original mission. Get bin Laden and Al Qaeda. Our original objective was not to bring democracy to Afghanistan. That is something the Afghans will have to handle for themselves. I believe we can offer financial aide to rebuild infrastructure and help with education and modernization but political change needs to come from the people.

These tribes have been sparring with each other for centuries, they need to resolve their issues without outside interference.

The USA and its allies need to concentrate their military and intelligence operation on hunting down and capturing/killing bin Laden and all his Al Qaeda network. They need to concentrate in Afghanistan and Pakistan and once they have finished there they will need to move to Somalia, Sudan and any other country that is offering Al Qaeda a haven.

The UN needs to issue a proclamation that any nation harboring Al Qaeda criminals need to surrender them or face the consequences.

Obama needs to let Afghanistan and Iraq take care of themselves, offer aide for building, but the military needs to concentrate on Al Qaeda.

Its Common Sense!