Thursday, March 15, 2012

Thom Hartmann: More setbacks in the decade-long Afghanistan War

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After a U.S. soldier snapped, and massacred 16 Afghan civilians - including nine children - Afghan President Hamid Karzai called for all NATO troops to be pulled out of rural areas. That could throw a wrench in the US exit strategy, which depends on handing Afghanistan over to NATO and Afghan Security Forces by 2014.
Another blow to the US exit strategy came when the Taliban suspend negotiations with US diplomats. In order to end the civil war in Afghanistan - a power-sharing deal with the Taliban must be worked out - but Taliban leaders walked away from the table, claiming that the US keeps changing the terms of the negotiations.
Clearly - after a decade of war - the Afghans want us out of their country. And recent polls show that the American people - who are watching this nation go bankrupt from war and our young soldiers deteriorate mentally and physically - want the war to end as well. In fact - 50% of Americans want the United States to speed up its withdrawal from Afghanistan. Time to pull a Saigon - and just get the hell out of there.
-Thom
(Why is the U.S. still there? Tell us here.)

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