We should leave Afghanistan immediately

Unfortunately, my opponent appears to lack a sense of humor, which is a shame. Con is also still wrong, and, unfortunately no humor, does not understand how the military works. 1. "Your source shows what is predicted to happen, not what history has shown." I think my opponent needs to go back to the first round and read why Afghanistan is called the graveyard of empires. He would do well acknowledge the tribal rifts and the history of dangerous blood letting that have happened time and time again in Afghanistan's history. The claim that this dynamic has changed? Is an empty claim. My position is not without support: http://www.nytimes.com... Con has yet to demonstrate any tangible benefit from leaving troops there other than more US deaths. 2. "My second claim stands because those places are not our business to get involved in. Afghanistan makes the most sense for where our troops should be placed. It is the only available war zone for the United State's strategies." Again, please reference the first post and explain how the strategic vision is wrong. This is also the point at which my opponent fails to understand the US military. When not actively employed in war, the force doesn't just sit - it trains. It modernizes. It is employed under other regional commanders. The military exists as tool to be employed WHEN NEEDED. To keep it in a pointless war simple because war is the tool of warriors entirely misses the point. It also misses strategic reality. Forces committed to Afghanistan CANNOT be committed elsewhere. For every Soldier in Afghanistan, there are two in training to replace him, and another recovering from the tour. Keeping 10,000 troops in Afghanistan requires, just for teh ground component, 40,000 Soldiers as the forces are managed through the ARFORGEN process. That says nothing of the air power needed to respond at a moments notice, and the massive naval expenditure to supply those forces (plus NATO and a good chuck of the Afghan National Army), and a literal Army of contractors needed to move the supplies through Pakistan to Afghanistan, and the provision of services. Those forces CANNOT be employed elsewhere and are a massive strategic drain. Worse, even with the continued expenditure, the future that Afghan History predicts remains with no sensible policymaker even predicted that this massive expenditure will avoid the looming failure predicted. It is a prediction with enough certainty that the regional players India and Pakistan are already manuvering for positions of advantage. #3 "I cannot remember my third claim honestly, but you need to do a little more research." I need to do more analysis to counter a point con cannot remember? Interesting debat tactic ;-) #4 "We aren't discusses what is predicting to happen. We are discussing whether or not troops should leave afghanistan immediately. And that hinges precisely upon what is likely to happen with US forces remaining or withdrawing. Not making any case whatsoever for any benefot at all is hardly a convincing case. In fact, its the utter abscence of a case. We should leave Soldiers to die, and ask famililes to bear the gut wrenching reality of a lost son or daughter, because .... we just should. That is exactly the kind of reasoning that should drive us to exit immediately. If we cannot think of good reason to stay to achieve something that justifies the deaths of our family members? Enough said. #5"The answer is no, we should stay there so that we have something to do. If the troops leave afghanistan, they will be sitting dry and stale, doing no good for the time being. They need to be doing what they were trained to do - and the only plausible place is in afghanistan." We should stay at war because that is what warriors do - they fight. It apparently doesn't matter that they are employed in a pointless fight. A sword must stab mentality? So what if the sword is stabbing the innocent? Or oneself? Force is the continuation of politics by other means, as Clausewitz notes, and the game is afoot in the region, and we are pouring blood and teasure in a game of politics we do not understand, or even care to. Time to end the game and save the sword for an opponent in need of being stabbed, as opposed to chasing shadows indefinitely.