Analysis: Why is the U.S. Still in Afghanistan?

[LAGC]

(CNN) -- The U.S.-led war against the Taliban in Afghanistan has been a tough slog, a nearly eight-year conflict replete with gloom.

Lately a lot of the news from Afghanistan seems particularly grim for the United States and its allies.

More U.S. troops have been killed there in August than in any month since the war began. There are indications that more U.S. troops could be deployed to the country.

The Afghan presidential elections this month were rife with charges of fraud. Corruption plagues the political system. The poppy trade is flourishing. And, in the words of the top U.S. military official, Adm. Mike Mullen, the "Taliban insurgency has gotten better, more sophisticated."

Support for the war hit a new low among Americans, a CNN poll found this month.
..
..
"We haven't been winning for eight years," O'Hanlon said. "They want to know why."

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/08/29/analysis.afghanistan.military/index.html

At some point, you have to ask, when is the continued occupation there emboldening the enemy? The Taliban were toppled in 2001. Why are we still there? Why not let the Afghanis decide their own fates? Arm the anti-Taliban forces if you must to even out the playing field, but why the top-down occupation? If the Taliban were ever to re-seize power, they could just be bombed back to the Stone Age yet again. But why occupy? It just doesn't make sense, in terms of cost of American life and American treasure.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

1. who owns?

who owns the pipelines going across Afghanistan?

[Cleita]

2. The same reason we stayed in Viet Nam so long.

We don't know when to quit. The Afghanis aren't going to change. They haven't since the days of Alexander the Great and Bin Laden is long gone. It's time for the military to leave and for us to start concentrating on our own problems at home. There won't be another 9-11 unless we get another incompetent Bush government in the White House.

And my own common sense tells me OSAMA BIN LADEN IS DEAD!

[polichick]

3. My guess is the military industrial complex needs us to be there...

War profiteers have a lot of power in DC ~ as Eisenhower warned so long ago.

[samrock]

4. The OP said ...

"If the Taliban were ever to re-seize power, they could just be bombed back to the Stone Age yet again"... Hate to tell ya this but THATS where they are now.. and the Taliban are content to be there and keep the rest of the country there.. We have to stay there and be ready to stay there for decades.. This is NOT Vietnam!!! In Vietnam ya had both Russia ( the Soviet Union ) and China supplying the enemy.. Now they get most of their supplies from us.. by capturing stuff we give others to fight against them.. This is a long fight.. We are fighting to bring that region from the 11th century to the 21st.. Most of the people would like to be on our side, but are afraid.. The key to winning this is to make the rest of the western world realize they MUST be with us.. this must be seen as the WHOLE western world reaching to help free peoples from a group of religious, power hungry fanatics..

[Arctic Dave]

6. Mmmmm, kool aid. The fact that we sat on our collective nuts for the last six years says

what our intentions are. We have never gave two turds about the people of Afghanistan. We have been at war with the entire middle east so we can subjugate them to our wants. If you want believe differntly enjoy another glass of juice.

[PeaceDreamer]

5. Get the US out of Afghanistan Now!

Obama has failed to understand the Afghani population and their way of life. We cannot win this war and the escalation will lead to thousands of deaths. Obama, end this war!!