Minnesota National Guardsmen returned to the Brainerd National Guard Armory to waiting family and friends last Sunday. They were the first Red Bulls to return from deployment in the Middle East. Some 215 members of the 1st Squadron, 94th Cavalry, 1st Brigade Combat Team completed the last leg of their long journey home via a commercial, military-charter flight.
While these brave soldiers are safely home, one has to wonder how much longer we are going to put our nation’s warriors in harm’s way in the war-torn nation of Afghanistan. While our brave men were celebrating with their loved ones, reports surfaced of Haqqanis coordinated attacks around Afghanistan, including Kabul, Nangarhar, Paktia and Logar provinces.
The U.S. puppet of Afghanistan “President Hamid Karzai said Monday the attacks were an ‘intelligence failure by us and especially NATO’ that allowed the militants to enter Kabul and other targeted cities, and called for a full investigation. Karzai, however, praised the Afghan security forces’ response to the attacks,” the Associated Press reported.
That’s it, Hamid, blame the troops that are defending your corrupt regime. This war that continues to prop up such a corrupt government is not worth one more U.S. soldier’s life.
This most recent attack, in which 36 insurgents were killed, is going to eventually wear down the resolve of the mothers and fathers who have been sending their sons and daughters off to a war that has already gone on for more than a decade. Our NATO allies need to join our leaders in an all out effort to win the war and leave the Afghanis to figure out how they want to be governed. Nation building in that quagmire is futile.
I urge U.S. officials to withdraw ahead of the 2014 scheduled pull out. Let Karzai and his ilk deal with the Taliban, Haqqani network and Al Qaeda.
—Keith Hansen
