Speech

Cooper V.

12/10/11

2nd

The War in Afghanistan: Is it worth it? No.

War is costly. There are times when spending our treasure and spilling our blood is worth it. This is not one of those times. Almost 10,000 Americans have died in Afghanistan; 9,971 to be exact. Approximately 200 of those soldiers were from right here in Kentucky. Military action is no longer the solution. So far, over 2,000 innocent Afghanistan civilians have been killed either by cross fire or by bomb strikes directed at the Taliban. It is these attacks that must be stopped. Instead, what is needed is a combination of a political movement and strategic attacks on the very terrorists that attacked us on September 11.

The money being put to the Afghan war is staggering. The cost of this war is currently around 9.7 trillion and counting. In an economy as fragile as the current one. This is spending that we can no longer afford. Just think of the opportunity cost. With the money spent in Afghanistan NASA could of launched the space shuttle five times, or five years of fuel for vehicles in Afghanistan could have been paid for. We live in an age where the needs are many and there are no more blank checks.

In addition to the economic cost of this war there is also the cost of lives. Tragically, the casualties have not only been to the soldiers, but also to innocent civilians. As noted, air strikes have resulted in approximately 2 thousand civilians being killed, and many more left with no home or family. The documentary entitled “Rethink Afghanistan,” depicts the story of a women who has been forced into a situation, due to the air strikes on her village, that has forced her to abandon her newest born son due to the lack of resources provided to her. Can you imagine that choice? What must it have felt like to leave your child behind to face certain death to save yourself? Sadly, this is just one of the many horrific, and unnecessary, results of our current strategy. The goal of this war was to put an end to the Taliban rule that has so corrupted this nation. Instead we have pursued a policy that has created corruption of our own. Instead of targeted attacks on the Taliban directly, we have involved people in this war that don’t need or want to be involved. With the casualties caused by the Taliban in addition to American caused casualties this country is seeing more destruction than ever before.

So, what do we do? We need a dramatic change in policy and direction. Many of the casualties and much of the wasted money could be prevented with a different approach. First, America must decide to approach this situation with a much more political and diplomacy effort. If the United States made an effort to correct the corrupted government, much like they did in Iraq then this would lead to greater peace and organization across the nation. And this presence of a new government does not require the full fledged military power that is required of today’s plans.

Second, instead of simply sending in bombs and air strikes that kill and strand many innocent people, it would be smarter to send in small speciality groups like Seal Team 6 to take out the leaders of the Taliban which would lead to their downfall. America could also utilize the power of drone missiles that are specialized to take out individual targets rather than entire villages. This approach would not only get the job done effectively it would also save thousands of lives and trillions of dollars, both of which are incredibly valuable to America at this time.

War is costly. And it is sometimes necessary. But in a world of limited resources we must accomplish our foreign policy interests more efficiently and smarter. America needs to end the heavy military role in Afghanistan and emphasize a political effort combined with a special forces presence in Afghanistan. This will save both lives and money. And that is a policy worth fighting for.

Citations:

Washington, David Byrd |. "Report: Iraq, Afghanistan Wars Cost US Nearly $4 Trillion." News | English. Web. 12 Dec. 2011. <http://www.voanews.com/english/news/Report-Iraq-Afghanistan-Wars-Cost-US-Nearly-4-Trillion-124716249.html>.

"ICasualties | Operation Enduring Freedom | Afghanistan." ICasualties: Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom Casualties. Web. 12 Dec. 2011. <http://icasualties.org/oef/>.