Although the health care reform debate still carries a lot of weight with the media, the war in Afghanistan is running a close second for the title of the new hot button in politics.

What a mess. What do you do about a place like Afghanistan? The general population of Afghanistan has about a 5% literacy rate. It is not an easy task to explain the greater workings of the world and the benefits of education to the people of a country that seems to care little about educating it’s populace. Knowledge is power and an educated people is far more difficult to control. Ask any dictator about that and though they may not admit it out loud, I am sure that they would quietly agree. Ignorance is also a breeding ground for fear. One need look no further than our own health care debate for proof of that. Fear is a powerful motivator and it is far easier to control people when they are less educated and in constant fear for their lives.

When we first invaded Afghanistan in October of 2001, Afghanistan was being used as a base and training ground for AlQaeda forces and the home of it's mastermind, Osama Bin Laden. Our own military leaders underestimated the power of ignorance and fear and misunderstood the loyalties of the Afghan people. The ignorance became apparent when rewards of millions in U.S. dollars were offered to any Afghans willing to help track down Osama Bin Laden, only to find that the local tribesmen didn’t know the difference between a million dollars and a shiny rock or a healthy goat.

Our troops also discovered that, after centuries of fighting invading armies, fear and death is the Afghan’s constant companion and their loyalties lie with whomever isn’t trying to kill them on any particular day. Afghans can and do switch loyalties in the blink of an eye which is a baffling occurance to a westerner. Afghans may not be book smart, but they are quite adept at staying alive. They play the game called live to fight another day, very well.

Anyone with half a brain would have to agree that we routed the Taliban in short order in 2001 and that the Bush Administration foolishly decided not to put enough boots on the ground to annihilate Al Qaeda and capture or kill Bin Laden when we had the chance. We can all thank Donald Rumsfeld for that one. Rather than allow the best military in the world to do their jobs, Rumsfeld went against his advisor's suggestions and relied far too heavily on the local tribesmen and their wandering loyalties to root out the enemy. The old saying, Don't buy a dog and then do the barking yourself, comes to mind.

This farcical plan allowed Bin Laden to escape across the boarder to the fearful and lawless northwest area of Pakistan where Pakistan’s own army dare not tread. It is presumed that Bin Laden is still there some eight years later, though no one seems to know for sure.

Conspiracy theories abound as to whether or not Bin Laden was allowed to escape as a ploy to let the Military Industrial Complex flex it’s might, and along with the aide of U.S. military contractors, bleed the American taxpayer for years or decades to come. If that theory holds true, it would go a long way in explaining the not so brilliant idea of leaving a skeleton crew to fight in Afghanistan while retraining the focus and resources of the war on terror to the invasion of Iraq. An invasion that, by the way, was foisted on Congress and the American public by the use of misinformation and deceit. 

We could go on forever about the foibles of the Bush Administration, but it won’t help the situation in which we presently find ourselves. The big question is, what do we do about Afghanistan? Sure, at one time we had the country contained, but that is no longer true.

Had we had kept our eye on the ball, would Afghanistan have a far different profile than it does today? No one can say for sure, but in my mind, the answer is a resounding yes.  Still, now is not the time for tears over opportunities lost. After eight long years we have to ask ourselves, what course of action should we take now? That is the question that is presently weighing heavily on President Obama.

Many theories and proposals are on the table. General McChrystal, who was put in place by Obama to oversee the Afghan theater wants 40,000   more troops to fight the war in Afghanistan. Of course he wants more troops. All Generals want more troops, the answer to everything in a General’s mind is more weapons and more troops, but is that going to get us where we want to go in regards to Afghanistan?

McChrystal makes no predictions of whether or not this surge of more troops will lead to victory (whatever that means) in Afghanistan, only that it is a start. No one knows where these new troops are supposed to come from. As far as troops are concerned, our military has been stretched to the breaking point. The thought of taking troops from Iraq and inserting them into Afghanistan is unconscionable to me. Those soldiers have done far more than their duty ever called for. It is time for our soldiers in Iraq to come home.

Redefining exactly what our goal is in Afghanistan is a huge part of the problem. At one time, the goal was to kill Bin Laden and rid Afghanistan of Al Qaeda. Bin Laden no longer resides in Afghanistan and neither do any Al Qaeda operatives or camps as far as anyone can say, which begs the question, why stay? After eight years, our purpose in Afghanistan has morphed into something that no longer has a definition.

Why spend billions more and countless American lives when our original mission in Afghanistan has been met? If our mission was to rid Afghanistan of Al Qaeda, then we won, so why not get out and go home? Of course it’s always more complicated than that, but we still must ask, why haven’t things improved in the area?

First and foremost, the answer to that question is that we (read George W. Bush) moved valuable troops and resources from Afghanistan to fight in Iraq. We also installed puppet leader Hamid Karzai as an interim President and he later won Afghanistan's first election. America's puppet was firmly in place, but the puppet soon began to ignore the strings and began dancing as he pleased.

There is much suspicion and mounting evidence that Karzai manipulated the recent election even though he was highly favored to win. He had plenty of money to rig an election since he has been siphoning off or extorting money from every outside financial aid program delivered to their country. We won’t even mention the money he makes from the narcotics trade, which incidentally is doing quite well under Karzai and helps destroy lives, not only here within our own boarders, but all across the globe.

Karzai has done little in the last eight years to train any Afghan military or police. There is no motivation for him to do so as it would lead not only to an American troop withdrawl, but also the removal of the American financial sugar tit along with it.

In fact, there were two recent attacks on our own military from inside both of those institutions, so why stay if that type of corruption is still so blatant after eight long years? How does one country go about correcting all that is wrong with another country that has a 2000 year history of war and corruption? My opinion is that you can't. As sad as it is, it reminds me of the drunken uncle that no one can help until he decides to help himself. Sooner or later one needs to recognize that he is being played for a fool, and that the shell game that is Afghanistan, will eventually leave us with empty pockets and broken dreams.

Al Qaeda no longer works from Afghanistan. They moved years ago to set up training camps in Pakistan where they remain to this day. The theory that we must stay in Afghanistan to keep Al Qaeda out of Afghanistan is a waste of theory. Who cares if Al Qaeda moves back into Afghanistan? Would that really be a bad thing?

It would surely be easier to kill Al Qaeda operatives there than it is to kill them in Pakistan and might even lower the collateral killing of civilians that only breeds more hatred of Americans. Plus, it’s not like Afghanistan is the only real estate on the planet available to Al Qaeda. There are cells or camps in Indonesia, Somalia, Yemen, Spain, Germany, Great Britian, the United States and who knows where else, so the idea that we must keep Al Qaeda out of Afghanistan is a leaky idea at best. Since they don't have a country to protect, Al Qaeda is free to roam the planet in search of fertile grounds to grow and nuture more terrorists.

Let’s revisit Pakistan for a moment. During the last several years, we have giving Pakistan over 6.6 billion dollars to help fight Al Qaeda in the feared and lawless northwest region of Pakistan where they have taken refuge. It was recently discovered that only about a half billion of those dollars were actually used to fight terrorism in that region and most of that money brought to use, only over the last few months. Is there any wonder that Al Qaeda managed to build a stronghold there?

The rest of the money was spent on other Pakistani needs, like buying jet fighters and armaments (conincidentally purchased from the United States) that are better suited to fighting India, than the helicopters and small arms needed to fight Al Qaeda in a mountainous region. One has to wonder why it took so long to figure this out. The following information might help.

The United States admits that it doesn’t have a system in place to track much if any of the money given to Pakistan or Afghanistan. Eight years and no tracking system in place, yet? (Remember that plane load of one hundred dollar bills totaling nine billion dollars that mysteriously disappeared in Iraq with little or no questions asked?) It is an unforgivable oversight in my mind, to sacrifice American Troops in a foreign land and not have a better handle on where all the money and supplies go.

There is certainly more to this story that we will never know and I believe that Barack Obama is weighing all of this carefully before making a decision on what direction we are to take in the quagmire that Afghanistan has become.

My own Audacity of Hope is that the President reaches a conclusion that the war against terrorists is better waged with high quality police and intelligence work followed by less invasive strategic strikes delivered by small lethal forces and robotic drones. I feel we would not only get more security for our money, but I also think this approach would lead to more cooperation from our allies and less hatred from our enemies.

We have had much action in Afghanistan, but action should not be equated with progress. Imagine that I nail one foot to the floor and run as fast as I can. That would display a lot of action, but would result in very little forward progress. Why should we as a nation, firmly nail one foot to Afghanistan and continue to run hard for another eight or more years?

Consider this, the cerebral celebrity known as Sarah Palin, recently posted on her Facebook page that she stands firmly behind the escalation of troops in Afghanistan. That fact alone should convince almost any coherent person that an influx of troops into the region is a bad idea.

Of course, I realize that the situation is far more complicated than anything I’ve laid out here and that this simple solution is based only on my personal opinion. I don’t have all the information and I am glad that I don’t have to make the call. I can only hope that Obama is wise enough to do the right thing.