Why I support President Obama's Afghanistan policy.

President Obama already said these things, but I found them convincing and so I will state them here.

1. Afghanistan shares a border with Pakistan - a fledgling, fragile nation that has nuclear weapons. If Afghanistan destabilizes and that destabilization spreads into Pakistan, we could see a nuclear state collapse into civil war. Or we could see a situation where a destabilized Pakistan instigates a nervous nuclear India into a confrontation. Obviously, this would be very bad and could quickly spread through the region.

2. Afghanistan can serve as a future base and training ground for terrorist groups and extremists. This was only slightly convincing to me, but nonetheless it is probably true.

3. We have a moral obligation to the people of Afghanistan to do our best to fix this situation. America has a moral obligation to ensure order and basic human rights in Afghanistan.

I did not agree with the decision to initially invade Afghanistan (or Iraq), but now that we have destabilized this country we have to restore some order.

#1 is the biggy here, and this is why I think President Obamam made his decision.

to invade Pakistan!

The President said that the U. S. will be strengthening our relationship to Pakistan while securing Afghanistan.

:shrug: Or should we continue to bounce the rubble that is Afghanistan?

Show mercy, mods!

This was our sanctuary

:cry:

Btw, thanks for the kick.

:tinfoilhat:

Maybe I should add one. I mainly lurk these days.

in Pakistan, whether we hear about it or not. The Pakistan-Afghanistan border is notoriously porous. The Pakistani government is not stable; the Taleban, which aids and abets Al Qaeda, enjoys support in both Pakistan and Afghanistan, whether we like it or not.

Pakistan and India have a very contentious relationship due to nuclear weapons. Should Pakistan destabilize further (it is tenuous as we speak), there is a chance of nuclear weaponry (among other weapons) to get in the hands of Taleban-backed warlords and escalate the India situation, thus causing major ass-pain throughout the world.

Of course, all of this has been going on for far longer than 8 years but the point is that Obama is looking at the long-term ramifications involving Pakistan probably much more so than aiding the corrupt Karzai government.

On a purely selfish note, as a woman I'd love to see the Taleban eradicated from Afghanistan - that would be a plus.

If I had to lay odds, Pakistan/India will be the next region where a nuclear weapon will kill millions. This must be prevented.

We cannot just wash our hands of this situation and walk away. It might not just be one man crucified this time, but millions.

Most of us adult Obama supporters have taken a break and are letting the complainers have the board for a week or two. This happens now and then. Do like the rest of us and just lurk.

Thanks for letting me know that there are some adults on this board.