Should the united states pull out of afghanistan - Essay Example

Should the United s Pullout of Afghanistan? Should the United s pull out of Afghanistan? If wego by the public opinion, then yes the US should pull out of Afghanistan. Overwhelming majority of Americans up to 70 percent opposes our troops being stationed in Afghanistan, Andrew J Belvich argues for the troops withdrawal in his Testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee of US Congress (McKenna)What was all this war about? Why in the first instance we are embroiled in this war. It all began in September 2001 when US Senate voted for use of force against the terrorists who perpetrated the attacks on Pentagon and on Twin Towers.

The initial dispatch of troops to Afghanistan was to either capture or kill Osama bin Laden who was the master mind behind the attack and to decimate his network Al Qaeda. If this is the principal reason for the war, now that Osama bin Laden is dead and the Al Qaeda decimated to only 50 members in Afghanistan, is it not time to pull out of Afghanistan. If the reason for our continuing presence in Afghanistan is based on the lofty ideals of nation building of that strife torn country and install democracy, then it cannot be achieved since Afghanistan itself is against that concept and western type of democracy is a fallacy there.

If there is a military reason for entering Afghanistan, then that reason is also invalid now since Taliban have never been a threat to US security. We have waged one of the longest war for ten years and there are many compelling reasons to end the war. We have deployed 100000 troops in Afghanistan and lost nearly 1600 American lives so far and 11541 have been wounded and maimed, many of them seriously and their lives will never be normal. Having accomplished the mission for what they have been sent for, the American troops are longing to come back home.

It has been reported that there is no purpose served for prolonging the troops stay over there. The war has a devastating effect on the life of personnel leaving them traumatized. About 25 percent of US army personnel serving in Afghanistan suffer from traumatic stress disorder and close to 16 percent of troops is under medication for mental illness. According to Andrew.J.Belvich “American Soldiers are now said to face the prospect of perpetual conflict”( Andrew J Belvich).The cost of this longest war in Afghanistan becomes unmanageable with $120 billion a year or $10 billion per month.

The Unites State has pumped in $18.8 billion as foreign aid and so far has spent $444 billion on the expenses. The amount so far spent has aggravated our fiscal problem. Our federal government has burgeoning national debt of $1.5 trillion this year which has to be taken care of. Unless we attend to this problem the nation could default on its debt and debt servicing. If we pull out from Afghanistan, we can free our resources, which is being spent on this unnecessary war. These resources can be used for growth, increasing the productivity and raising the living standards of our citizens.

This war was fought an imagined threat to our security and still we are waging the war in an unknown soil, and for an un co-operative country, which is incapable of maintaining its security. This is a “mystical war on terrorism. Mystification breeds misunderstanding and misjudgment . It prevents us from seeing things as they are “( Andrew J. Belvich ) Should we continue the war, should we allow our personnel to languish in a hostile country, which is not showing up even a single sign of recovery from its plaguing problems, should we squander our money when our own people are struggling to meet both ends, the answer is an emphatic no.

But should the United States pull out of Afghanistan. Yes, immediately, right now, for the reason mentioned in the article. Reference McKenna, George, Feingold, Stanley(2011) Taking Sides Clashing Views on Political Issues, Issue no 21, 17th edition Mc Graw Hill, Print.