Abandoning Afghanistan, Great Job America

It isn't truth making American Navy SEAL's celebrities.

A county of people low on hope, and now the allied forces are preparing their withdrawal, once again leaving the people of Afghanistan to the wolves. Salem-News.com photos by Tim King

(SALEM) - Does America do anything these days with a sincere purpose? Afghanistan's violence is our doing; it is a result of the contrast between stated intentions and reality.

Both women in wheelchairs were crippled by Taliban; both had lived in Afghanistan during Communist years - a time of peace.

It's strangely sad that the only time of peace that this country has known in modern time, was a result of Communism. This political slice of pie granted women great freedom and equality. Afghanistan was a hippie destination, not a war zone in the 60's and 70's.

If Communism had not stifled religious freedom, the cycle of violence that began in the 1980's with Afghanistan's civil war, might not have ever happened. The Afghan people would not have felt the need to rebel, maybe.

The Afghan people really did believe the western governments were there to work on their behalf. Then came years of 'collateral damage' and the installation of a crooked government that has its own ties to the Taliban.

Then came drones; one attack too many on friendly forces in Pakistan, and then more and more hardened American warriors from Iraq; many conditioned by their own commands to hate the people they defended.

German ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) soldier minds his gun at Mazur-e-Sharif; where the first American died while fighting in Afghanistan, late 2001.

Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, stated this weekend that international forces in Afghanistan are due for a planned withdrawal by the end of 2013.

The war is clearly in in the wind down phase. This concept holds no promise for the people all over this war torn country who believed Americans cared about stabilizing their government.

Now French Socialist Francois Hollande, who defeated Nicholas Sarkozy as President narrowly today, said he wants to withdraw French troops from the ISAF coalition in Afghanistan at the end of this year, that is 12 months ahead of schedule. France is the fifth-largest contributor to the ISAF mission, with approximately 3,300 troops stationed in Afghanistan.

I was in Afghanistan over the winter of 2006 and 2007 and got to know many soldiers in the ISAF Coalition. I covered the war and operations at a quiet, cold time when soldiers deployed there believed they were fighting a forgotten war.

It was more or less, a forgotten war.

Now it is a super long war we're about to lose over poor planning and a big distraction called Iraq, and this is no benefit for the people we asked to trust us. Everyone was so keen to fight in the Middle east, and now they are realizing the fruit of that labor.

Another Failed War

Al Franken and Tim King in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 2007

Without emerging victorious, the Bush and Obama Administrations combined, managed to send Americans to war for more consecutive years than any other presidential duo in history. Seven tours or more, that is the extent of how bad it becomes, and these politicians drew the blood of dedicated American warriors for no reason, to no gain, once again.

But they spent spent hundreds of billions of your money and mine, to do it. Their real accomplishment has been the creation of a country with a very unsure future. Which country do I mean? Both. The U.S. and Afghanistan.

I interviewed Al Franken about all of this in Kabul in 2007. Of course Senator Franken is not a war proponent, however USO entertainer Franken could see five years ago, that Afghanistan was in need of much help and that we were not seeing any level of success as the war interest had been shifted to Iraq, which was obviously the plan of G.W. Bush all along anyway.

I believe that the only way to win a war, pardon the expression, is by winning the hearts and minds of the population. With the dreaded Taliban as the nemesis, our efforts should have been easy to do. This is a Vietnam War saying but it is right, why else bother fighting in a foreign land anyway?

Where this war began for Americans in Afghanistan.

You America, had the wool pulled over your eyes with the entire bin Laden affair. He has been dead for more than a decade. He was dying of kidney failure in 2001, but why bother paying attention to that, right? It really gets in the way of popular national belief doesn't it?

It isn't truth making American Navy SEAL's celebrities.

Neither does it make bin Laden's impossible manifestations, possible. He had this uncanny knack of showing up at the most perfect times; when Bush needed a distraction and justification for his wars, and Bush's bin Laden was several different men actually if you pay attention.

Take a little drive through the town of Jalalabad, Afghanistan, where he had his training camp set up during the war with the Soviets, and you will see men who look like and dress like bin Laden practically on every block.

It just isn't possible that he received kidney dialysis treatments in a Pakistani cave, nor is it likely that he was able to live in Pakistan with a $25 million dollar price tag on his head without some degree of difficulty.

However it was the 'tossing overboard' of his body that let us all know it was a pile of bullshit from the first word. Oh I'm sure the Navy SEAL's went to that town, that they killed people, and that all kinds of things happened, but they didn't kill bin Laden.

Click on it, see the source

Bush and Obama perpetuated the lethal myth of a man who, when he was still alive in 2001, unequivocally stated that he had absolutely nothing to do with the Sept 11th attacks and that he resented having every act pinned on him.

In the CNN article, Bin Laden says he wasn't behind attacks, he makes an unequivocal statement.

He doesn't leave room for: "Well maybe I did it".

There is no reservation for: "In a couple of weeks I'll change my mind".

Here's one more for those who don't know, for all the hype, Usama bin Laden was never a suspect in the Sept. 11th attacks.

He was wanted for involvement in a bombing that took place in Tanzania, but not the U.S.A. Look it up. Mr. bin Laden didn't like Americans, but that is because of the first Gulf War.

He had recently returned to Saudi Arabia with his fighters from Afghanistan, when Saddam made his move on Kuwait. Usama bin Laden offered to toss Saddam Hussein's troops out of Kuwait but the royal family opted to use George Bush's American led coalition, this was the beginning of bin Laden's ant-Americanism.

Usama bin Laden lookalikes in Jalalabad, Afghanistan - 2007

I suspect the ignorance is rooted in more than politics, it is the media (more politics- ok) that has failed to fully divulge the level of combat that took place in Afghanistan with the early U.S. forces and the 'Northern Alliance'.

They all but brought the Taliban to their knees early in the war, but they managed to blow it out their howitzer before they were through.

It is truly like our country is run by imbeciles with no idea of the real cost of war. If only they had ever endured the fear of a gun-battle, missile or rocket attack, just once.

If only they had gotten to know the Afghan people the way I did. They would not have a compulsion to abandon them. All those there who trusted us and worked with us, will have a terrible mess on their hands when the last Americans leave.

The war could have been won, the population was behind the Coalition in 2006 and 2007.

I just don't think the Coalition was ever, with the exception of individual acts of deployed members of the military, truly behind Afghanistan. It was all an excuse to launch the United States into two more wars that it lost.

_________________________________________________________

Tim King in 2008, covering the Iraq War

Tim King: Salem-News.com Editor and Writer

Tim King has more than twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 covering the war in Afghanistan, and he was in Iraq over the summer of 2008, reporting from the war while embedded with both the U.S. Army and the Marines. Tim is a former U.S. Marine.

Tim holds awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing, including the Silver Spoke Award by the National Coalition of Motorcyclists (2011), Excellence in Journalism Award by the Oregon Confederation of Motorcycle Clubs (2010), Oregon AP Award for Spot News Photographer of the Year (2004), First-place Electronic Media Award in Spot News, Las Vegas, (1998), Oregon AP Cooperation Award (1991); and several others including the 2005 Red Cross Good Neighborhood Award for reporting. Tim has several years of experience in network affiliate news TV stations, having worked as a reporter and photographer at NBC, ABC and FOX stations in Arizona, Nevada and Oregon. Tim was a member of the National Press Photographer's Association for several years and is a current member of the Orange County Press Club.

Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website. As News Editor, Tim among other things, is responsible for publishing the original content of 102 Salem-News.com writers. He reminds viewers that emails are easily missed and urges those trying to reach him, to please send a second email if the first goes unanswered. You can write to Tim at this address: tim@salem-news.com. Visit Tim's Facebook page (facebook.com/TimKing.Reporter)