The Afghanistan War: Absurdity or Necessity?

[BarTopDancer]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

I'm one who has consistently from the beginning felt that we were fully justified to take action against al Qaeda/the Taliban in Afghanistan while fully unjustified in taking action against Saddam in Iraq, and my stance has not changed on that. I still believe we had a valid reason to start sh*t in Afghanistan, and therefore have a valid responsibility to finish it "correctly".

Of course one's definition of "correctly" can be debated. And I do still reserve the right to oppose continued action there without considering myself a hypocrite if said continued action is not either in service of the original valid purpose for instigating (i.e., seeking justice against Al Qaeda who perpetrated an attack on the U.S. and against the Taliban for facilitating Al Qaeda), or part of our responsibility to exit as cleanly as possible, not just step in, blow sh*t up and leave the people to clean up our mess.

If, for example, the justification for remaining in Afghanistan morphs, as it slowly seems to be, into, "We need to keep fighting the greater war on terror!" I would oppose it. I don't think that makes me a hypocrite. That's a separate action from the original purpose for being there and one I do not support.

What he said.