I, like many Americans, believe that the time has come for the US to wind down our "boots on the ground" involvement in Afghanistan. I also believe that this fledgling democracy will need our assistance for years to come...technology, training, infra-structure, humanitarian aid, health-care support, education and aid for arming and deploying an effective security-military force with a cadre of leaders to inspire and train them.
That said, I am ashamed of many of my fellow-citizens. Today, listening to one of NPR's afternoon programs as I made my way around my city, I heard one caller after another pummel our nation with vitriol I do not understand. These citizens believed, no, reveled in the belief, that the US has been decisively beaten. They asserted that any reasonable person, any honest person, would be incapable of identifying even one positive outcome from our heartbreaking sacrifice in this 10 year conflict.
These folk are flat-wrong. Consider that...Ten years ago Afghanistan was a country ruled by one of history's cruelest regimes; today, it is governed by freely elected leaders. Women, previously virtual prisoners in their homes, are serving in Parliament. Camps Al Qaeda has used to train, indoctrinate and dispatch terrorists to take innocent life around the globe, have been dismantled; their infra-structure ravaged and in disarray. The Afghans have a growing security force of 79,000 soldiers who are warriors at heart, and now are receiving the training and equipment needed to sustain this young democracy in the perilous days ahead. Afghanistan's economy has doubled in size. School enrollment has risen from 900,000 to over 6,000,000; including over 2,000,000 girls. Access to health care has risen from 8% to 80% of the population. In 2010, the Pentagon announced that geologists had discovered nearly $1,000,000,000,000 (one-trillion) dollars worth of mineral deposits, a potential wind-fall of wealth the Taliban never would have found. Much remains to be done, but our efforts on behalf of the Afghan people, and the noble cause of liberty and self-determination have produced splendid results; the price has been profound--but history will be kind in its assessment of this investment of innocence, dreams, treasure and thousands of lives.
The free-world, soldiers from around the globe, have engaged the enemy in the field and prevailed. For our part, we must refuse to allow those who would redact the reality of what has happened in Afghanistan by being well informed about the truth and assertive in our efforts to "pass the word" from neighborhood to neighborhood, business to business and generation to generation.
I am proud. I am grateful. I am humbled. Now, let's bring our warriors home to the adulation they so richly deserve, and pray for that day when we turn swords into plowshares.
God bless America, "Annuit Coeptis."
That said, I am ashamed of many of my fellow-citizens. Today, listening to one of NPR's afternoon programs as I made my way around my city, I heard one caller after another pummel our nation with vitriol I do not understand. These citizens believed, no, reveled in the belief, that the US has been decisively beaten. They asserted that any reasonable person, any honest person, would be incapable of identifying even one positive outcome from our heartbreaking sacrifice in this 10 year conflict.
These folk are flat-wrong. Consider that...Ten years ago Afghanistan was a country ruled by one of history's cruelest regimes; today, it is governed by freely elected leaders. Women, previously virtual prisoners in their homes, are serving in Parliament. Camps Al Qaeda has used to train, indoctrinate and dispatch terrorists to take innocent life around the globe, have been dismantled; their infra-structure ravaged and in disarray. The Afghans have a growing security force of 79,000 soldiers who are warriors at heart, and now are receiving the training and equipment needed to sustain this young democracy in the perilous days ahead. Afghanistan's economy has doubled in size. School enrollment has risen from 900,000 to over 6,000,000; including over 2,000,000 girls. Access to health care has risen from 8% to 80% of the population. In 2010, the Pentagon announced that geologists had discovered nearly $1,000,000,000,000 (one-trillion) dollars worth of mineral deposits, a potential wind-fall of wealth the Taliban never would have found. Much remains to be done, but our efforts on behalf of the Afghan people, and the noble cause of liberty and self-determination have produced splendid results; the price has been profound--but history will be kind in its assessment of this investment of innocence, dreams, treasure and thousands of lives.
The free-world, soldiers from around the globe, have engaged the enemy in the field and prevailed. For our part, we must refuse to allow those who would redact the reality of what has happened in Afghanistan by being well informed about the truth and assertive in our efforts to "pass the word" from neighborhood to neighborhood, business to business and generation to generation.
I am proud. I am grateful. I am humbled. Now, let's bring our warriors home to the adulation they so richly deserve, and pray for that day when we turn swords into plowshares.
God bless America, "Annuit Coeptis."
