American troops have been on the ground in Afghanistan since October of 2001 as a result of the terrorist attacks of 9/11. This war has since eclipsed the Vietnam War as the longest fought American war and has claimed the lives of 1,584 brave troops and has cost the U.S approximately 435 billion dollars over its ten year course according to costofwar.com. The war was originally declared to flush al-Qaeda, the terrorist group that plotted 9/11, out of Afghanistan and depose the Taliban, who had sheltered and aided al-Qaeda. After sweeping the Taliban out of power and killing many al-Qaeda terrorists, the United States found itself in the middle of a power vacuum, with the Taliban trying to fight back into power, and tribal factions fighting each other for the top-dog spot. Since that point, the United States has found itself in a strategy of counter-insurgence, where the main goal is to win the “hearts and minds” of the local people.
To help accomplish this goal, President Obama began a “surge” of 30,000 American troops in early 2010 to help stabilize the security situation in Afghanistan and catalyze a security hand off to the Afghani security forces and civil government. This drastic increase in manpower in Afghanistan mirrored and was in fact based on the Iraqi surge that President Bush initiated during the nadir of the civil war between Sunnis and Shi’ites in that country. The troop surge in Iraq worked well and stabilized the security situation in that country as well, allowing the United States to hand the Iraqi military and government a higher degree of autonomy. Just so, Obama’s troop surge hoped to bring the fight to the Taliban by attacking them in their strongholds of southern Afghanistan and the mountainous eastern region of the country.
On May 1, it was announced that Navy SEAL troops attacked Osama Bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. This revelation led many Americans to reconsider the United States’ involvement in the War on Terror, with many declaring that the mission was over with Osama’s death. The following month, Obama announced plans to withdraw 5,000 troops by the end of 2011 and 33,000 troops by the end of 2012, thus removing almost the entire “surge” that he initiated. Administration officials sought to frame the drawdown as a positive result of the war effort, but many consider it to be at least partially a result of public pressure. There have been no specific timelines granted, however, as to how these 33,000 troops will be pulled out which leaves General Petraeus considerable flexibility in the deployment and eventual withdrawal of troops. An anonymous senior says, “we should keep troops in Afghanistan until we beat the Taliban and establish a good government in the country.”
The President has come under fire from two sides who either believe the troops should pull out sooner or should be stationed in Afghanistan for an indefinite period of time. Some in his own party, including Nancy Pelosi, are disappointed with the pace of withdrawal and were instead hoping that President Obama would announce plans to withdraw all American troops from Iraq and Afghanistan quickly. Others, including Republicans and some in the military, had hoped that President Obama would either not signal a draw-down at all, or would announce a withdrawal at a much slower pace.
Many students at Seminole High believe that the troop withdrawal should happen at a faster pace. Junior Izzy Kraus says, “it’s disheartening that we’re wasting too much time and resources in a country we have no place being.” Sophomore Mahdi Kassam says, “There are more pressing issues for the United States to address right now, like the economy and the debt ceiling, so I hope Obama will keep drawing troops out of Afghanistan.”
As of now, the President has ended military operations in Iraq and is looking to do the same in Afghanistan. Only time will tell how quickly all of the troops leave both nations.