The US Senate has approved the resolution for fixing time frame of the withdrawal of forces from Afghanistan and budget for the newly deployed troops. Despite the fact that the subject of the US forces' withdrawal from Afghanistan is the most controversial and the most disputed issue. However, most of the US senators want the immediate withdrawal of the US forces from Afghanistan, yet the senate, has approved the $30 billion new budget for its forces in Afghanistan. Most part of this $30 billion budget will be spent on the 30,000 newly deployed US troops whose deployment in Afghanistan was announced by President Barack Obama in December 2009.
Similarly, a part of the budget will be spent on the US troops in Iraq as well. In addition to this, the United States has approved $4 billion for the projects of reconstruction and economic support in Afghanistan and Pakistan, which would be spent through the US Department of State. In addition to this, the US Congress has also approved $130 billion earlier, which would be spent in Afghanistan during the current year.
Impact of Afghan War
According to the media reports, United States has so far spent $1,000 billion on the war in Afghanistan. According to the official press releases of the Pentagon, more than 1,000 US soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan so far. The Afghan war has become a cancer for the United States. All of the US strategists agree that the United States may never succeed in winning the war in Afghanistan. They know that their opponents in Afghanistan are gaining strength with the passage of every month and every year, that the field of the battle against them is widening, that the opponents have been learning novel war tactics, that the circle of hatred against the United States is widening in the Islamic world, that the United States is cutting off from the Islamic world and human-loving parts of the world and that all of such forces are standing behind supporting the opponents of the United States.
The tension created by the United States Afghan war has now reached Sudan, Libya, Somalia, China, Pakistan, Iran, Russia, and the Western world. The battle field has extended from Asia to Africa. The current military data of Afghanistan show that the human and property losses that the United States has incurred in Afghanistan are higher than what the US intelligence and pentagon are sharing with the media.
A clear cut majority of the US people is sure about the failure of United States in Afghanistan. 80 percent of the people of the United States want the withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan. US Senator Tom Harkin says: "I can no more tolerate the same. Now, it is the time to rethink over this contradiction, the confusion created by the war." Another US senator of the Democrats, Chief Benjamin says: "I think that impatience has grown very much. The nine-year presence of the foreign forces in Afghanistan has shown that in spite of the increase in the number of troops to whatever high extent, winning the war is impossible without people's support."
Security Situation
At present, except the big cities, most of the parts of Afghanistan are under the control of the opponents and the writ of the government is very weak therein. Three months ago, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), through their 15,000 well-equipped troops, launched operation named 'Mushtarak' in the small district of Marjah, which is situated in the outskirts of Lashkar Gah District in Helmand. They killed dozens of civilians in Marjah and displaced thousands from there. But Marjah is still under the control of the Taliban at the moment, and the security situation in Marjah is far worse as compared to that in past. In spite of the presence of the forces of 48 countries in Afghanistan, the Taliban captured Barg-e-Matal District in Nuristan. So, what difference they would make even if they increase the number of their troops?
Our request to the United States is to welcome the joint call of its citizens and the Afghans and, instead of sending more troops to Afghanistan, to withdraw its existing troops from Afghanistan through a strategy that is logical and acceptable to all.
Political and Economic Presence
If the United States really considers Afghanistan its strategic ally, it should establish a real government in Afghanistan and should support it in becoming self-sufficient. The few billion dollars budget, which Obama is spending on the US troops in Afghanistan, are like foam on the surface of water and it would make no difference. Instead of these expenses, if the United States spends one-fifth of this budget on the security sector in Afghanistan, the later would have its own powerful Army and police structure. In that case, United States and NATO will not need to send hundreds of billions of dollars to Afghanistan and as compensation, to take back thousands of dead bodies of their soldiers. Neither would China, Iran, Russia and the Arab world form an alliance against the United States and NATO.
The Afghans want the political and economic presence of the United States in Afghanistan and they want friendship with them inside the circle of mutual respect. Afghanistan is in need of support from the United States and the Western world and it is a supporter of globalization. But the Afghan people consider the surge in the foreign troop as something against themselves and the region. They consider the troop surge as something not beneficial for the foreigners as well. It would be better if the funds spent on the foreign forces in Afghanistan are spent on the security sector of Afghanistan.
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