Osama: A Good Excuse to Leave Afghanistan
Published in Clarin
(Argentina) on 15 May 2011
by Gustavo Sierra (link to original)
(Argentina) on 15 May 2011
by Gustavo Sierra (link to original)
Translated from
by Arie Braizblot.
Edited by Heidi Kaufmann.
The disappearance of Osama bin Laden is a good excuse to leave Afghanistan. This is understood by Americans.
According to the Gallup/USA Today survey, almost 60 percent believe that it is time to end the war, that the objectives to “avenge” the attacks of 9/11 and the destruction of al-Qaida training camps have been completed.
This position is also growing stronger in Congress. The chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Senator John Kerry, said: “We are spending $10 billion per month in Afghanistan, and I don’t believe that this can be justified within our strategic interests in the region at this time.”*
In addition is the enormous drop in the morale of troops. An internal Pentagon report indicates that only 46.5 percent of soldiers have high morale to fight in Afghanistan, compared with 65.7 percent that was recorded in 2005. And 17.4 percent were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. While desertions increase, thousands of young men prefer to spend three months in jail or leave for Canada before returning to Kabul.
President Barack Obama will give some indication of this in a speech that will be given this week, before leaving for Europe, where he will offer a new era of cooperation between the Arab and Muslim world in general. Obama believes that bin Laden is the past, and the Arab uprisings of this spring in North Africa are the future.
He also knows that to accomplish any profound change, some type of agreement in the eternal Palestinian-Israeli conflict is needed.
But that is where we always stumble over the same rock. The right-wing government in Israel is not willing to concede anything. For now, Obama can take advantage of this moment to order the end of one of his inherited wars with troops withdrawing very slowly.
*Editor’s Note: This quote, accurately translated, could not be verified.
According to the Gallup/USA Today survey, almost 60 percent believe that it is time to end the war, that the objectives to “avenge” the attacks of 9/11 and the destruction of al-Qaida training camps have been completed.
This position is also growing stronger in Congress. The chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Senator John Kerry, said: “We are spending $10 billion per month in Afghanistan, and I don’t believe that this can be justified within our strategic interests in the region at this time.”*
In addition is the enormous drop in the morale of troops. An internal Pentagon report indicates that only 46.5 percent of soldiers have high morale to fight in Afghanistan, compared with 65.7 percent that was recorded in 2005. And 17.4 percent were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. While desertions increase, thousands of young men prefer to spend three months in jail or leave for Canada before returning to Kabul.
President Barack Obama will give some indication of this in a speech that will be given this week, before leaving for Europe, where he will offer a new era of cooperation between the Arab and Muslim world in general. Obama believes that bin Laden is the past, and the Arab uprisings of this spring in North Africa are the future.
He also knows that to accomplish any profound change, some type of agreement in the eternal Palestinian-Israeli conflict is needed.
But that is where we always stumble over the same rock. The right-wing government in Israel is not willing to concede anything. For now, Obama can take advantage of this moment to order the end of one of his inherited wars with troops withdrawing very slowly.
*Editor’s Note: This quote, accurately translated, could not be verified.
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