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Kyle's avatar

Sorry, for those of us who opposed the war of occupation from the beginning as an imperial misadventure completely divorced from an understanding of history of Afghanistan and the region, it was a disaster. In many ways, lies about what would and could be achieved, and the way the war proved the be a spring board into Iraq, another disaster of our own making, was a self inflicted wound that forever has damaged the psyche of the country and poisoned the body politic. So many Conservatives that I know reference the failed wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq as reasons they felt lied to by their establishment politicians, and one of the reasons they were wiling to bet on a criminal like Trump to bust up the old guard. I'm no agnostic about pulling out of Afghanistan. I'm happy we have finally read the writing on the wall and are staunching the bleeding. We can aide liberal NGOs and politicians in Afghanistan to do the hard work of attempting to uphold what has been established, but if the majority of the country falls, it is because ideologically their citizens do not want it nor were they ready for it. Democracy has to be called and fought for from within unless a country is an existential threat to others. We could have conducted surgical strikes on Afghanistan and pursued Bin Laden's terrorist organization throughout the world without a 20 year war of occupation. I will always hope for the best for the people of all nations, but I also think we need to have the humility to not ignore history and culture by attempting to impose our will upon over sovereign nations with our military might.

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Matt Welch's avatar

1 to 2 trillion dollars is chump change? Just imagine what those funds could have done in a nation-building effort at home! The failure to mention the rise on home-grown terrorists, however fledgling and clumsy, who cited the occupation as one of the many causes of their radicalization, is a huge oversight. Arrogant rationalizations of The Blob like this are cringe-worthy on a number of levels. For one, let us not forget, that popular discontent about the Forever Wars was utilized by the insidious Trump campaign in their initial hostile take over of the Republican establishment. I am really starting to lose patience with the foreign policy Blog hot-takes on this site. Where is the diversity of opinion that was promised?

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