The Al Qaeda training camps are gone. Isn't that why we went in there in the first place?

Oh, and to get bin Laden. If he's not in Afghanistan, why are we?

That the dear leader George W. Bush kept us safe for seven years and six months by capturing the monster leader of the axis of evil "dead or alive".... and he did it single handedly, in his flight suit, with the nice package...

I supported Bush's war in Iraq and still support our troops there to help get the Iraq's on their feet. I think it is possible to have democracy there.

But Afganistan??? No way, no how!! What a snake pit. The only place worse might be Yemen (although not by much). I equate Afganistan with Somolia or the Sudan. Stay the f--k away or the Islamo's will be spilling our blood. I don't agree with Obama in sending any troops there. Pull a Clinton and attack them by air, we have predator technology to do a lot. If Obama goes in then it might well become his Vietnam.

We really put no effort into saving the people (mostly women) of Afghanistan from the Taliban until after 9/11. Instead of fighting terrorism with the military abroad maybe the Obama administration should consider, just protecting ourselves with good intelligence, diplomacy, and more high technology at our ports and airports. Of course would also have to do a better of training those running the technology at the airports.

Has anyone since Genghis Khan had any long term military success in Afghanistan?

*chirp* *chirp*

An excellent point, imaginary crickets. The Soviet Union had a prolonged presence there. Pity it put a constant drain on their resources and morale, contributing heavily to their eventual downfall.

*chirp* *chirp*

What's that, imaginary crickets? It's not as if the insurgent forces in Afghanistan were trained and funded by CIA and US Military forces throughout the 1980s to help thwart the Soviets? Oh that was sarcasm. Cheeky crickets.

So what I think the imaginary crickets are trying to tell us is that for all its borderline third world squalor, Afghanistan is a strategically precarious suck hole populated with paramilitary units who were either directly or indirectly trained by the same people who have trained our soldiers.

Ah, but then what is the solution?

Let it become a terrorist stronghold?

Or should we bomb the ever loving hell out of it and let it be a terrorist recruiting tool?

Limited military engagement does not work. Nation building through the use of the military is a doomed venture.

The only option in any of these hell holes is more morally ambiguous than we would like.

Pull out all troops. Announce a massive influx of humanitarian assistance with a caveat: the indiginous people are responsible for keeping insurgent elements in their country in line because if the humanitarian workers are targeted, the nation is doomed to carpet bombing.

The moral ambiguity comes from the fact that we need to plan to have a certain amount of humanitarian workers die. What would be the tipping point? After all, the native population needs to be given the opportunity to self correct. Plus the carpet bombing stage of this method would require an absolute consensus on the villainy of the insurgent population.

It sucks, but that is the way it works. The sight of armed foreign soldiers in the street will comfort half of the population and radicalize the other half. It leaves little room for a middle ground and will never solve the problem long term.

Nobody likes a kindness provided at gunpoint. I love cookies, but if I was made to eat one for fear of being shot, I would still resent the gun-toting baker.

What makes us think we know what's best for the Afghans? The past year has shown us we don't even know what's best for us. What arrogance - more troops = more anti-Americanism = more terrorism, more war.

Just what the world needs.

the North-West of Pakistan had conceded this area to the Taliban, allowing it to use Sharia law. The United States treats Pakistan as an ally and gives it millions of dollars in aid. What makes the situation so dangerous for world peace (what a dream!) is that Pakistan is a nuclear power. Furthermore, the relationship between Pakistan and India, which also has a nuclear capacity, is very uneasy. Yet, from what I've read, the American administration and media have the focus almost entirely on Iran. Afghanistan has been a graveyard for the British and Russian imperialists for well over a century and it will be no different for America if it continues with this failed enterprise, something that President Obama should accept. The white poppy is dominant there and foreign soldiers are sitting ducks.

Afganistan is ALREADY dear leader George W. Bush's Viet Nam, as is Iraq. Maybe you didn't notice but HE invaded both of those countries some years ago, and then completely bungled the handling of both wars

How long can the Republican's wait before blaming these problems on Obama?

Hopefully the GOP will at least avoid a strategy of blocking anything the current administration tries to do to correct these problems; unlike on the economy.

Just last year Hannity was saying the Taliban was wiped out and that we'd won the war in Afghanistan. Just last night O'Reilly said that we won the war on terror.

I'm beginning to thing the right is lying or just making things up. I'm shocked. Shocked, I tell you.

Redraw the Durand line to bring all Pashtun peoples under the control of the Afghan government. Threaten Pakistan with nuclear holocaust if they try to stoke unrest in the area. Then clean up the Pashtun areas with full military force.

Or,

Leave Afghanistan and focus on containment.

Every other half-assed measure is doomed to fail.

back in 2001. The official message from the United States Government was "We will never abandon you again." From an international relations standpoint, abandoning the Afghanees is about as toxic as invading Iraq.

We are in Afghanistan under a UN mandate and it would be in our best interest to extend that mandate so we can share the burden. For whoever thought that Somolia and Yemen are worse than Afghanistan here's the average life expectancy stats:

Afghanistan 44 (it was actually 46 when we invaded)

Somolia 57

Yemen 69