How Long Before We Bring Them Home?
by James Glaser
April 13, 2011

Let me ask you a question. Now, bear with me, as you will think it strange, but I am "dead" serious. Here it is:

Will we reach the point that the children of our first troops into Afghanistan will see their children sent there to fight?

Today, a Soldier or Marine who went there in 2001 could see his or her son or daughter, who was 9 years old during that first tour be sent there today. By the time we have our next presidential election, kids who were 7 at the start of this war could be going to fight and maybe see where their mother or father was killed.

It is now 2011, and the Afghanistan War started in 2001. It is already America's longest war. Here is how USA Today reported it in May of 2010:

The Vietnam War's length can be measured in many ways. The formal beginning of U.S. involvement often is dated to Aug. 7, 1964, when Congress passed the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, giving the president a virtual carte blanche to wage war. By the time the last U.S. ground combat troops were withdrawn in March 1973, the war had lasted 103 months.

U.S. forces attacked Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2001. On June 7, the war will complete its 104th month. President Obama on Thursday reaffirmed his commitment to the war, saying "it is absolutely critical that we dismantle that network of extremists that are willing to attack us."

And now we are at 114 months, with no end in sight. If you think about it, our war in Afghanistan doesn't even make the news very often. Still on average one American is killed there every day. Last year the total Americans killed was 499. Also, ten of our troops are wounded every day. The longer this war goes on, the higher our causality number count goes.

I don't know if it has happened yet, but if not, soon we will have some Soldier or Marine killed, whose father or mother was killed in the same war.

We should all remember this: When we attacked Afghanistan, that country had no army, no navy, and no air force. They just had a group of freedom fighters we helped train and arm to defeat the Russians. Well, they did just that. Those Afghans fighting to keep their country free fought the Russian Army for nine years before they finally forced the Russian Army to leave.

So, how long are we going to stay there and fight these Afghans? If we were trying to prove something, we already have lasted longer than the Russians. If that is the only positive thing we can take from this war, I say we should take it, and get out now.

Bring them home.

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