President Obama Announces Afghanistan Drawdown

Posted by: Noël Jones

The New York Times reports that President Obama announced tonight that the U.S. will begin drawing down 10,000 troops from Afghanistan immediately, followed by a drawdown of 33,000 more troops by next summer. That's a start, but will still leave over twice as many troops in Afghanistan than were there
before Obama took office. There will also remain 10,000--yes 10,000 defense contractors working in Afghanistan--to the tune of hundreds of billions--on the American tax dollar.

What is encouraging, is that it seems that members of congress are coming together from both sides of the aisle to report that their constituents are tired of wasting money on, and losing the lives of loved-ones in, this 10-year war. Osama Bin Laden is dead, and Americans are ready to see our troops come home to defend us against terrorism here, rather than continuing to inspire the recruitment of more terrorists by continuing to bomb people over there. What is not encouraging, is that without pulling out thousands of defense contractors, and by drawing down so few troops so slowly, taxpayers will continue to pay billions for years for a war they don't even want to be in, and in the middle of a recession, when the middle-class is struggling, unemployment is high, and programs like Social Security are at risk.

While the majority of congressmen that have begun to call for withdrawal from Afghanistan are Democrats, there are several Republican now--most prominently, Republican candidate for President, Rep. Ron Paul (who is really a libertarian, and libertarians are against overseas military aggression in the first place)--who have joined the effort to end this war.

On a personal note, although I may want this drawdown to happen faster, I am at least relieved to hear that it has begun, because it means that my brother might not get sent there after having done two tours in Iraq. He has seven kids. My fingers are crossed.

I welcome all readers thoughts on this, even if you disagree--the more engaged we are with each other in discussions as a community, the more we, as a community, will engage with our elected officials and make OUR government work for US.

What do you think of the drawdown?