Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta announced that the United States Military will end its combat role in Afghanistan in 2013 and continue an advisory and training role with Afghan forces through 2014.
This strategy coincides with the way the Obama administration handled the end of the war in Iraq. The President declared the end of combat operations in Iraq in August of 2010 but kept thousands of troops in Iraq in a training and advisory role through the end of 2011. Politically this announcement enables the President to campaign on his record of ending the war in Iraq and having put in place a plan to bring the troops home from Afghanistan.
As expected, Senator John McCain weighed in with his disapproval. The Senator from Arizona, who has never met a war he didn’t like, said the President was implementing military policy based on political conditions here at home rather than conditions on the ground in Afghanistan.
Senator McCain is absolutely correct.
The American people are tired of this decade long war. They see no definable measure of victory. They see the US pouring billions of borrowed dollars into a country that shuns our presence while one half of US citizens live in poverty. They see the death and destruction; the countless lives lost and they want it to end. And by overwhelming numbers they have made their voices heard.
So yes, Senator McCain, the President is listening to the people here at home. He is listening to the taxpayers who elected you to office and pay your salary. He is listening to the people who put their lives on the line to fight the endless wars you support; and pay for the military at whose alter you worship.
Yes, Senator McCain, this President IS implementing military policy based on political conditions HERE AT HOME. You might want to try it sometime.
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