Isn't it Time For An Early Afghanistan Exit Strategy

Former president Jimmy Carter, who has monitored elections around the world, recently commented: "Hamid Karzai has stolen the recent [Afghan] election." Because of widespread fraud allegations, an election recount is presently being conducted in Afghanistan. At a minimum, President Obama should not make any decision on sending more troops to Afghanistan until a new Afghan government is in place. If the new Afghan election results in a corrupt Karzai government, then you cannot ask the American people to sacrifice more American lives and billions of dollars to support a corrupt government.

Americans are already turning against the war in Afghanistan. A recent USA Today/Gallup Poll shows 50% of all Americans, and six in 10 Democrats, oppose sending more troops to Afghanistan.

What kind of "surge" is contemplated? if the soldiers are going to maintain order and to reach out to the people in an accommodating way, that´s one thing. If the soldiers are going in there to greatly escalate our military attacks, then that would be a mistake.

What is the cost of the War in Afghanistan so far? The War (2001–present) has cost the lives of 830 Americans due to hostile and non-hostile actions. In addition, the War has caused the deaths of thousands of Afghan civilians directly from insurgent and foreign military action, as well as the deaths of possibly tens of thousands of Afghan civilians indirectly as a consequence of displacement, starvation, disease, exposure, lack of medical treatment, crime and lawlessness resulting from the war.

And the dollar cost of the War exceeds $227 billion. This amount of money could have provided 67,197,963 people with health care for a year, or provided 100,491,438 children with health care for a year, or provided 1,773,590 affordable housing units for a year. We cannot continue these enormous war expenditures ad infinitum, especially with our faltering economy. This money could be better spent elsewhere.

I am not optimistic that Afghanistan will ever become a functioning government and without a reliable local partner, the U.S. military presence will eventually become part of the problem, not the solution. It is time for the President to announce a realistic exit strategy for Afghanistan, one that is sooner rather than later.