I wish Canada and some of the other NATO countries would have stayed behind to protect the at-risk and vulnerable

You know, I’ve not paid a whole lot of attention to the Afghan war. And I’m really sort of disappointed in myself for not staying better informed and more in tune with the whole situation. Because, lately, stuff about the big withdrawal from Afghanistan has really been dominating the old news cycle. And what is happening is truly heart wrenching and tragic beyond all reason. I do not understand and will never understand why some type of arbitrary date had to be selected on which all NATO troops would be out of the country…..why couldn’t a date have been set determined by when the last at-risk Afghani was gotten safely out of the country? Why did it have to August 31 come hell or high water?


For starters, everybody, everywhere knew the Afghan army would collapse as soon as NATO pulled out – that was totally predictable. It’s true that it happened way faster than anyone could have foreseen, but everybody knew it was going to happen. So, why didn’t NATO simply dump huge numbers of troops in and around Kabul to make sure the bad guys were denied access until everyone was safely out. Why, oh why? And if the Americans were bound and determined to get out by August 31, why did the rest of NATO just follow merrily along? There were quite a few countries involved In the NATO coalition and they all have armies – put extra troops on the ground to ward off the total disaster that’s happening there right now. Everyone should have been gotten out safely. It could have been done.


In fact, I can’t believe we’re just pulling out and abandoning the women and children of Afghanistan who will soon be living life back in the Middle Ages if the Taliban has its way. I can’t believe we’re leaving at all. I know it was an endless war that was costing a whole bunch of money and also lives. However, it seems our governments have endless money when they feel they need it, and when people join the military, they’ve gotta know there’s a chance they could end up in harm’s way. But isn’t it somehow what we should do – that we have a moral obligation to protect the less fortunate and the most vulnerable on our planet. So that maybe if we have to maintain armies in some of the world’s hot spots to keep people safe, that’s what we should be doing….


The whole global situation would be way easier to manage if we weren’t faced with the problem of China and Russia….these are both rogue nations that have no respect for international law or any of the other protocols that would allow humanity to exist in peace and harmony. Both these countries are brutal, dictatorships with absolutely no regard for human rights and both are working to undermine and destroy any type of democratic political system that exists on the planet. I’ve always hoped for a sort of Star Trek future where all the countries on Planet Earth are one big, harmonious family out there exploring the stars. Instead, we seem to be heading more toward a Mad Max or Bladerunner future where all of life is bleak and miserable.


And I have absolutely zero idea how we accomplish much of anything on Earth as long as we’re fighting and squabbling over most of the crap we tend to fight and squabble over. At this point in our history, there should be a United Nations’ police force of some type that just roots out and fixes all injustices around the world. And I think it’s pretty easy to figure out what’s an injustice and what’s not, no matter which side of the world community you’re on. Russia and China are, of course, huge problems, but neither of them would likely be foolish enough to take on all the rest of us…Although that’s surely not a given.


It’s just that I can’t bear to watch another bright, articulate Afghan woman weep openly on the Tv news about how her life is likely about to change. I feel truly bad about the whole affair. I wish Canada and some of the other NATO countries would have stayed behind to protect the at-risk and vulnerable. And if we had to stay for another 20 years, or even for a hundred years, that’s what we should have done….All life is precious, people…all life…and if we’ve got the means to protect it when it’s at risk, that’s what we should do…no doubt about it.

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