LogFAQs > #979624091

SHRlKE posted...

We were already pulling troops out. This was just the final stage. Reneging on that would have required us to send more forces back because whatever truce we had with the Taliban would have surely been broken.

Im not from the US so I dont really care about your partisan issues you guys have.

Ill refer you back to my posts to Zikten on my larger feelings on the case of saying in Afghanistan in general.

In reference to your larger feelings, I would agree that in some hypothetical world where we could have never invaded that may have been preferable, but there's also a case to be made that after being there for that many years you have a responsibility to make sure you leave things in good order. There is a difference between having been there for over a decade and knowing that when you leave certain things are going to happen to the populace versus seeing things happen to a populace where you aren't currently and having to decide whether to get involved. Put another way, someone watching a guy beat his girlfriend in the same room is in a slightly different position than someone who read a story in the news about some guy beating his girlfriend.

You are correct though, in that we can't, nor do we try to, police every country that does things that we don't think are acceptable. But I'll reiterate, the decision to enter a country versus the decision to leave one in a particular state are two very different decisions.