Afghanistan

The war in Afghanistan is one of the longest ongoing wars that the United States has been part of.  After the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001, the U.S invaded Afghanistan and the war has escalated ever since.Ever since the war started it has been chaos and death. Too many soldiers have returned home with serious injuries and way too many have not returned home to their families. In June 2011, President Obama declared that the United States had achieved most of their set goals there. He also set an aggressive timeline for the withdrawal of American troops by 2014.I feel that this is a goal we as a country to aim to achieve and it is one that is reachable. This war has gone on for too long and the longer we stay in Afghanistan, the harder it will be to get out.  In the beginning of 2012, the United States had around 90,000 troops in Afghanistan,with 22,000 due to be home by the fall. There is no scheduled pace for the withdrawal of the other 68,000 troops who by Obama's plan, are due to be home by 2014. I feel that the withdrawal number is so large than it physically cannot happen overnight but in small sections, troops need to come home. Soldiers should be home safe, not fighting an endless war filled with bloodshed and death. I feel that we have been fighting this war for too long and our stay in Afghanistan has been overstayed. Some citizens of Afghanistan do not appreciate us being there and us violence to drive us out. On Febuary 21, angry protests broke out because there were emerging stories that NATO personnel were setting fire to bags filled with the sacred books of Korans. This riot lasted for days an lead to more deaths and controversey. It is time for the United States army to come home and to pull out of Afghanistan.