I guess all the drama over McChrystal makes good television and fun reading, but it's sad that this is what it takes to get Americans to remember we're fighting a war in Afghanistan.

It's a war most people don't talk about or think about—and really, who can blame them? Who wants to be reminded of the fact that we're spending almost four billion dollars a month on a war that we're losing and which has no end in sight? So far this month, 69 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan, along with many, many more Afghan civilians. Of course people don't want to think about this war, unless they've got a loved one who's fighting in it.

The problem is, by not thinking about the war we're enabling it. If I remember correctly, the rationale for invading Afghanistan in the first place was to rid that country of terrorist training camps and al-qaeda. Fair enough. And now, almost nine years after the Taliban was routed, what are we still doing there? Staying to make sure the al-qaeda terrorist camps don't get rebuilt? Okay.

But it would seem that, given how good our armed forces are at destroying things, we could withdraw from Afghanistan and still wipe out any terrorist training camps that get rebuilt without too much trouble. Why is that something which requires the permanent occupation of the country? It doesn't.

Pro-war propaganda notwithstanding, the Taliban is not the same thing as al-qaeda. If the Taliban were to come to power again in Afghanistan—and even our man in Kabul, Hamid Karzai, appears ready to make a deal of some sort with them—US interests would not be more compromised than they are now by the expense—in lives, treasury, energy, and focus—of our current open-ended (and it is open-ended, despite Obama's so-called withdrawal strategy) and destructive occupation of that country.


Hey, what's that big yellow country in between the two countries we're currently occupying?
A big part of the reason we're due to stay in both Iraq and Afghanistan for a long, long time.

A big reason, I think, for why we're never going to leave (unless we're forced out) either Iraq or Afghanistan is Iran. Another reason are the military bases we will inevitably control, which will come in handy with respect to extending imperial power into Central Asia. As is the case in Iraq, the US will likely create a network of permanent military bases in Afghanistan. As is also the case in Iraq, staying in Afghanistan will draw us into local conflicts.

But hey, if that's what you want to see your loved ones risking their lives for, go ahead. But please don't do so with my tax money.