Why? Why do you support the war in Afghanistan?

[cali]

What is it you think can be accomplished? Does it trouble you that Karzai is as corrupt as you can get? We've been there for almost a decade. How much longer will you support our being there?I just don't get the support here for that miserable war.

[Oregone]

1. Uh...you seem like the type of person who would incorrectly root for the Na'vi in Avatar

Progressives clearly disagree with you. War is peace (when we are calling the shots)

Oh, and Dennis is secretly conspiring with the Easter Bunny to destroy the Na'vi and raid Pandora

[asdjrocky]

2. I don't.

[cali]

4. well I know you don't, but I'd like to hear from those here who do.

[asdjrocky]

5. I don't know why but that response struck me as really funny.

:smoke: Maybe it's the new strain.

I can guess some of the answers, you know, fighting them over there so we don't... ah fuck.

[Mari333]

3. well I dont support it. I cannot fathom why anyone would.

I saw the same rahrahrah for Bush. this isnt any different.

[Stinky The Clown]

6. Real easy answer:

"Go Team"

It maddens me.

[Fumesucker]

9. +1

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

7. Never have. Still don't.

[Political Heretic]

8. I don't.

I'm sure you guess that.

[cali]

10. well, yeah, but where are those who support it?

I'm not trying to catch them up, I'm just curious why they support it.

[Robb]

11. I'm probably as close as you're going to get here

...to a reasoned "supporter" of the war in Afghanistan. And I've taken a rather convoluted path to get that far.

I went into absurdly exhaustive detail recently, but in a nutshell there's a unique opportunity to attempt to set "right" something we rather wholly screwed up around 1989 or so.

The chance of actually doing it? Six months ago I would've said 1 in 100. Today, 1 in 20. I'm not overly hopeful, as you can see. Realistically it remains very, very unlikely.

But this administration has been making the correct moves for some time now, not so much in the "surge" business, which is really window dressing and "shock and awe" by another name, but politically (going around Karzai, reaching out to the right second-tier officials (Ghani, Yasini etc.) and, frankly, the way it has been addressing Pakistan and the ISI, and the dramatic change in the number of and manner in which drone attacks are made in the FATA. It's the North Waziristan efforts that will decide this entire debacle, I believe.

Anyhow, no, I'm not troubled by Karzai, I don't believe he'll survive (politically) the spring. Given the current direction, and what I've seen in the last three months particularly, I would support the effort as far as the current timetable allows, expecting the major force to be gone by next summer. We should however "know" how it's actually working well before that.

[customerserviceguy]

12. Sorry

Here's another DUer who wishes we'd get the hell out, and let the parties that are there sort this shit out by themselves, without our interference, or being in the way of the crossfire.

[G_j]

13. Karzai steals the election

and then thumbs his nose at the UN. He is as corrupt as they come.
Nobody should be dying to prop him up.

[NJmaverick]

14. My support is based on some moral convictions and appreciations of the current situation

first off we can't undo what has been done. That means we can't go back and make Bush try diplomacy to have Al-Qaeda turned over before invading. We can't undo the years of neglect that turned an early win into near defeat.

The real question is what would have happened if we had ordered an immediate retreat. We first off at the time complete and immediate retreat was advocated there was no way the government would have stood. So that means it was a given the Taliban would have regained control of the Country in a quick and bloody conflict. We also can safely assume that those that supported the US or were part of the current Afghan government would have been punished severely or killed by the Taliban. We know the hard won rights of woman to an education and other rights would have vanished.

We also know from past experience that the Taliban has and we know they still have a warm relationship with Al Qaeda. So we know that Al Qaeda would have then had a safe heaven in Afghanistan. We also know that the Taliban and Al Qaeda have been working to undermine the nuclear armed Pakistan government. If Afghanistan was allowed to fall under Taliban control the Pakistan government would be at far greater risk. A nuclear armed Taliban (or Taliban like) controlled Pakistan is one of the world's worst nightmares.

No one likes war, no one love war, but there are times when it is the best option available. As Stephen Cobert said this week "what has war solved other than slavery and fascism?"