Afghanistan, Obama's Vietnam

I would personally call myself a Democrat in a more relaxed sense of the term. There are in fact many things that I side with the Republican Party on, mostly relating to social issues like homosexuality and abortion, while at the same time I admire the party of the donkey for its more welfare-oriented and, yes I'll say it, socialist approach to politics, epitomized in the recent health-care debates. The same thing can be said for President Obama. While I knew that he wouldn't be a perfect chief executive (no President will ever be, quite honestly), at least he wasn't McCain, Bush, or Cheney, and eight years of neo-Conservatism in the White House was enough for me. But, to put it bluntly, Obama's recent troop surge of 30,000 soldiers in Afghanistan is extremely reminiscent of former President Bush's "active" foreign policy approach. I can't convey enough how disappointed I am with the President's decision.

No one ever said getting out of Afghanistan would be easy. No one said that it wouldn't be met with opposition regarding how and when to do it. I will concede that, at the very least, Obama seems to be making steps towards getting out of Iraq, his other war theater inherited from Bush, and that he specifically stated that troop withdrawals would begin sometime in the next 18 months (I just hope that he honors that commitment when the time comes), both of which are two very crucial decisions that never crossed Bush's mind. But let's face it folks, this war has been dragging on for about eight years. There is absolutely no sign of real "success" in the near and far future (and there's still no sign of what success actually is). Thousands of unnecessary lives are being wasted away as we speak, and even more money is being burned away into the furnace of warfare (hey, here's an idea to lower the deficit, stop pumping money across the Atlantic for starters). Somehow I find this situation to be very familiar. Deja vu, perhaps?

OK, so maybe a 16 going on 17 year old king's opinion may not suffice as "educated" or "sophisticated", but what about those of war families? While some have decided to dutifully prepare themselves for the call of war, many families, plagued with absent members serving up to three or four tours in Iraq, might now have to add more to their plate with tours in Afghanistan. For many, these sacrifices are making huge burdens on family cohesiveness, and, of course, every tour increases the chance of becoming another number in the news.

Getting out of both Iraq and Afghanistan have been and will continue to be very thorny issues in the coming months, and while I commend President Barack Obama's efforts to "execute this transition responsibly", I believe that his methods are far from the proper way to go. A good lawmaker, a pragmatic strategist, and a clear-headed leader must know when it is and isn't the time to end a war. President Obama, the time is now. End this war for the sake of the Afghan people. End this war for the sake of the American soldiers and their families. End this war for the sake of rebuilding our economy by removing one more expense. Don't give me fancy language or beat around the bush. President Obama, please end this war.