Reason #31 to Blog4Peace ~ Afghanistan

I watched a CBS 60 Minutes special tonight on the War in Afghanistan. This month marks the 10th year of involvement for US military with nearly 70,000 troops still remaining in that part of the world  - just across the Pakistan border. 70,000?!!
Ten years too long.
70,000 too many.

Everyday in my sidebar I have this photo captioned "We're still there."

Everyday I hope I can take it down. 

I never get to take it down.

When Barack Obama was elected president he vowed to get us out of there, to finish the mission. Not only did this not happen, according to news I heard tonight, it's not likely to happen anytime soon.
"We will not tolerate safe havens for terrorists," vowed President George W. Bush in the fresh aftermath of Sept 11th.  That indeed is a worthwhile mission but which place on earth does not now bring forth terrorists.? According to The Department of Homeland Security we now have "homegrown terrorists." Is there a spot on earth remaining where extremists of one kind or another do not exist? The last three sentences I just typed are three MORE reasons to blog for peace. The world is spotted and spoiled. If you dwell on it long enough you'll go crazy. And if you fear those who wish to strike fear in you, they win.

(airstrikes on Tora Bora)

But what are we to do? Let terrorists run amok in the world? Of course not. I'm just so very tired of this evil on the face of my world. We put out fires here and there, win a battle in this city or that desert province, only to see the same fires lit again the next day.
We have an army walking through desert streets dodging hidden explosive devices while they maneuver their way into one more Taliban stronghold looking for an enemy they can't see. It might be that boy over there. Or a woman under a burka.  Or under their weary feet waiting to take their limbs and lives in booby-trap style.  What an insidious enemy. What an unrelenting mission. How can our peacekeeping and stabilization efforts succeed when the very people we want to protect have little or no resources of their own to resist those they so fear in their own land?  Can we help them overcome decades of religious extremism so deeply rooted in the places they live and work? How can we educate the children when the teachers we send are too afraid to stay?  We have 70,000 on the ground. There are reportedly "only a few thousand" Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. This does not compute.

But it's not hard to imagine how "just a few thousand" can have mind control over an entire country. It only took one Hitler to wage fear and terror throughout Europe.
Imagine that multiplied a few thousand times over.

My reason #31 to Blog4Peace

Afghanistan: We're still there.

My fear is that twenty years from now I'm still going to have that picture in my sidebar.

Baby Boy will be of legal age to join the military or God forbid get drafted (should that ever come about again) and the whole time I've been trying to teach him not to let his bathtub animals fight with each other lest they start a war, we will still be fighting a war we didn't start.

He will have questions.

So will I.

Join us for BlogBlast For Peace Nov 4