As is increasingly evidenced by developments in Afghanistan from
gloomy intelligence reports to the Quran burning to the recent massacre
of 16 Afghan civilians, including nine children, it is long past time
for the U.S. military to leave that country.
After weeks of tumultuous upheaval, the slaying allegedly by a U.S. Army Staff Sergeant is just the most recent incident undermining U.S. objectives to win hearts and minds. Frankly, that mission has long been lost.
We are still learning
about the Staff Sergeant, a married father of two. It appears he was
deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan a total of four times. On one of
those tours, he suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI), but was
declared “fit for duty” by the U.S. Army. Afghans would certainly beg to
differ. This is also more evidence that the U.S. military cannot be
allowed to deploy troops with diagnosed psychological issues—such as
Post Traumatic Stress or TBIs, a messaged pushed by a project called Operation Recovery.
The media has tried hard to paint this incident as an isolated
deranged U.S. soldier committing murder—the “bad apple” theory. While
the heinousness of the massacre is seemingly rare, the terror and rage
it creates among ordinary Afghans is not. After ten years of this war
and some 40 years of conflict, Afghans are endlessly affected by the
suffering and violence in their country.
Yet this also alludes to something larger than just the “bad apple”
theory. If I learned one lesson in Iraq, it was that violence—whether by
us or those resisting our presence—only caused more violence. Moreover,
the violence was accompanied by something worse: the dehumanization of
the “other.” That happens on both sides. War doesn’t just rob the
occupied of their humanity; it robs the occupier of theirs too. And this
is why humankind cannot continue to wage senseless wars that accomplish
nothing but death and destruction.
So it is this simple.
War cannot bring peace because war is only violence which exacerbates
all the things that undermine peace. That should now be clear as
anti-Afghan war sentiment in the U.S. has reached a tipping point.
Some 60% of those recently polled believe the war is not worth fighting. Congress is listening. 88 members of the House and 24 senators recently sent letters to president Obama calling for an expedited withdrawal. The White House is also reportedly now debating the pace of the drawdown. We support H.R.780 by Barbara Lee (CA), the “Responsible Withdrawal from Afghanistan Act.”
U.S. troops must withdrawal because they are not leverage for peace
and stability, but exacerbating violence and tensions. The
solution—inevitably messy—to the conflict in Afghanistan (different from
the U.S. war) will be political. We should not abandon Afghanistan, but
U.S. troops have no role in political negotiations. Afghan self
determination can only be realized in the absence of foreign troops.
I cannot say it better than Washington Post Columnist Eugene Robinson: “It’s their country, not ours. In increasingly clear language, Afghans are telling us to leave. We should listen and oblige.”