Continuing the war in Afghanistan is necessary

Very well then. The Pro states three reasons for why we should continue the war, I will examine each point before introducing my own arguments. 1 - "We did not start this war we were attacked. .. .. still hurt by the losses of human life and their great towers" That is all true, however the man behind the attacks (Bin Laden) is dead, along with many of his top advisers in Al-Qaeda (Al-Qaeda was behind 9-11 not the Taliban). Also the regime that controlled Afghanistan who harbored Al-Qaeda (the Taliban) have been removed from power and have been replaced by a US friendly democratically elected government. If our intention for the war in Afghanistan was revenge then I think we have accomplished that goal since the Taliban no longer controls Afghanistan and that the capabilities of Al-Qaeda to attack other countries including the US has been greatly limited in scope. 2 - "America has not lost 2,000 soldiers the casualties are very low in this war who knows how high Taliban casualties are. .. .. .. .. .. .. the Taliban are hiding in caves. .. .. .. .. .. don't pull back and allow them to regroup and re strengthen themselves and make a new attack. " America has currently lost about 1,800 troops with about 14,000 sustaining injury. Other countries included however and the death toll of troops spikes to 2,800 with over 22,000 injured . http://en.wikipedia.org...(2001%E2%80%93present) . http://www.globalpost.com... Sources put Al-Qaeda, Taliban, and other insurgents / terrorists killed at 37,000 to 41,000 giving our side a kill ratio of about 19 to 1, which is quite an accomplishment. However the civilian death toll in Afghanistan as a result of ongoing conflict by US occupation is heavy, the number of civilian deaths range from 14,000 to 35,000 (see previous source) so despite the great success of US troops in open fighting with Al-Qaeda, civilians are still dying. In fact just last week suicide bombers attacked airports killing civilians, and the accidental burning of Qur'an's by US troops has sparked conflicts and outrage between US troops and the people of Afghanistan who we are occupying. The US is serving a far smaller role in protecting civilians since terrorists now resort to suicide bombing to make their mark while the US constantly strains relations between the US and the Arabic country only causing more tension. That being said it would be in the best interests of the US to withdraw from Afghanistan to prevent any further incidents that could cause strain between the US and Afghanistan and let the country learn to fend for itself. . http://www.mercurynews.com... . http://www.thebostonchannel.com... . http://www.nydailynews.com... . http://www.thenews.com.pk... . http://articles.boston.com... For the record that last one isnt meant to hate on Santorum, its meant to emphasize how large of a role simple accidents play in US foreign policy regarding Afghanistan As for the idea that if we withdraw they could attack again, there are two factors we need to consider for that to be true. The first is that we can now defend ourselves at home from them since we know what they are capable of, what they want, how they operate, and how we can beat them. Prior to 9/11 we didnt know anything about Al-Qaeda because we had no reason to, following the War in Afghanistan though we, and the rest of the world, are far more aware and prepared to defend our/their shores from a possible Al-Qaeda attack at home, not through more years of bloody occupation in Afghanistan. The second condition that must be met for Al-Qaeda to pull off a successful attack or launch another campaign is if they have people to recruit, and after US occupation, the recruiting pool is very narrow now. The lifestyle of people in Afghanistan is much different that it was under terrorist Taliban rule, and now these people have other options career wise. Before 9/11, Afghanistan was a country where you worked hard in agriculture or joined your local militia to fight against other militias, now however people have many more career options, many more markets to learn a trade and master, and the potential to even get out of Afghanistan should they get the chance. If Al-Qaeda is to re-strengthen enough to launch attacks against the US, the first thing they need is countries to recruit fighters, and for Afghanistan they are no longer an optimal target for recruitment, and neither are many other places in the world. Point is, if we live Afghanistan Al-Qaeda wont be able to rebuild and attack us, the world is aware of their existence and how to defend against them and Al-Qaeda currently does not have many viable options to recruit any mroe fighters because of government reforms in the countries they used to recruit from. 3 - "The Taliban are on a Jihad they won't stop attacking until one side is dead" Just because they (Al-Qaeda not Taliban) are dealing in extremes doesnt mean we have to also. It is not possible for the US and its allies (the few that are still in Afghanistan) to leave Afghanistan until every last terrorist is vanquished, we would never leave! If their goal is to kill all of us, let them try they wont be able to pull off another 9/11 or any major attack now that we can defend against them. The fact that they hide in mountains and caves in an endless mountain range though gives the US an impossible mission if our goal is to eliminate every last terrorist. Terrorism will never be vanquished, however the US and its allies have done a hell of a job in limiting the potential kind of war these terrorists can rage, and with a better prepared defense within our own border against them, they are much more harmless then they were ten years ago. Now for my own arguments 1) We should discontinue the war in Afghanistan is because it is a very costly war at a time when the US is trillions of dollars in debt and just now starting to climb out of a recession. The war in Afghanistan places a huge burden on the US budget ($500,000,000,000 and counting) which could begin to be worked back into the US budget for other expenses to help alleviate our budget problem since the War in Afghanistan costs about 5 Billion a month . http://costofwar.com... . http://www.fas.org... 2) The War in Afghanistan is scheduled to end in 2014, which is two years from now, what exactly could we accomplish in two years that we couldnt in the last 10 besides raise more hell? 3) The government has already began withdrawing from Afghanistan, in fact 40,000 troops are expected to be withdrawn in 2012 alone. If the war were to continue then these war veterans would have to stay in Afghanistan for a mission that doesnt have a clear cause anymroe . http://www.huffingtonpost.com... 4) Afghanistan is comparable to the Vietnam War in length, Iraq is not far behind. This is one of the longest wars in American history and just like the other long wars this one is poised to end in a stalemate. Why continue pouring money, troops, and effort into something that, as history has shown before, will only partially end in our favor 5) Terrorism will not die out, and it is a foolish cause to spend billions of dollars to wipe out terrorism in a single country when we could easily defend against the threat here on our own shores and not becoming entangled in these lengthy stalemates. 6) The US has managed the War very poorly and that will not change, we should not stay in Afghanistan if we keep mishandling this situation.