Afghanistan

It is a beautiful fall day and I am thinking about Afghanistan. Why must we be there at all? It is wrong. Our nation has an absolutely dismal record for nationbuilding. Let the Afghans determine their own government. If it isn't as open as ours, that is regretable but far better than to kill and maim, disrupt, instill fear and hatred. We need to get out of there.

I heard on NPR some comparisons between the now 8-year war in Afghanistan with our nation's entanglement in Vietnam. I clearly understand the differences - size of our force, size of the "enemy" force, proxy war vs not a proxy war. All true. Also true is that the longer we stay, the more lives, money, and good will we waste. We cannot win and the longer we stay, the more hatred of our nation will fester.

How about this. Instead of sending thousands of soldiers, what if we sent thousands of engineers and laborers and nurses to help rebuild the country? Build roads, water treatment plants, schools, clinics. That's a plan I could get behind.