Why we are in Afghanistan

[berni_mccoy]

It's primarily because Bush was incompetent. But after he put troops there and then allowed the Taliban and Al Qaeda to escape, the country destabilized and the situation degraded until President Obama took office.

If anyone knows why the Taliban and Al Qaeda should not be allowed to regain power there, it's Greg Mortenson, author of "Three Cups Of Tea" (see http://www.threecupsoftea.com ). If you haven't read this book, you should. But one glance of his twitter feed tells you all you need to know why were are not going to make a hasty retreat from Afghanistan. From Mortenson's recent tweets:

Over three dozen Afghan H.S. girls poisoned by Taliban in Ghazni, on Saturday, June 12, now recovering in hospital: http://bit.ly/dADrNP
4:23 AM Jun 13th via web
...
http://bit.ly/b2rPy2 Taliban poison students - Kunduz area. Never forget these brave girls in the fight of their lives for education & hope
11:03 AM Apr 27th via web

If you dig into each of these, you'll find the following:

Afghan schoolgirls rest at a hospital in Ghazni, eastern Afghanistan, Saturday, June 12, 2010. More than three dozen school girls were hospitalized after becoming ill from suspected poisoning at their high school in Ghazni. There have been similar cases of illnesses at schools around Afghanistan. Some suspect militants are spraying schools with poison gas because they oppose education for girls. (AP Photo/Rahmatullah Naikzad)

And here is a video of the 2nd story: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/36790098#36790098

The Taliban and Al Qaeda know that education, especially of girls, is going to destroy them far faster than any guns or predator drones. They can't allow it and they have been waging war on education for some time now. And if you think Obama isn't listening to someone like Mortenson, you'd be wrong. Mortenson is required reading by all troops stationed in Afghanistan. From: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34238313

Mortenson is someone the military's top brass listens to — and has often consulted with. "Three Cups of Tea" has become required reading for U.S. commanders and troops deploying to Afghanistan, making Mortenson a valued but unofficial adviser to the Pentagon. Mortenson's follow-up book, "Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs," was released Monday.

'I now think the military gets it'
In an interview, Mortenson, a former U.S. Army medic and mountain climber from Bozeman, Mont., retracted earlier remarks that the U.S. Army were all “laptop warriors … who don’t have a clue what was going on locally, on the ground.” Now, he says, “despite a steep learning curve on the part of the U.S. military, I now think the military gets it.”

If you're wondering why Obama is only changing personnel and not policy with the recent events regarding McChrystal, well, it's because, I believe he feels it's the best way to defeat the Taliban and AQ. If we leave, the people there have little chance of achieving peace with books. They won't be allowed to read them.