But I bet there are a few more people who do now, thanks to this “unfortunate incident.”
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) – Four Afghans, including a child and two women, were killed Saturday when U.S. forces opened fire on a car in southern Kandahar city, police said.
A man in the car also was killed when a U.S. military convoy opened fire on the civilian vehicle, Kandahar police official Shah Agha told Reuters. He said a U.S. Special Forces convoy appeared to be involved. […]
U.S. Army General Stanley McChrystal, the new U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, issued a directive in July stressing the importance of avoiding civilian casualties, which have undermined support for the war against the Taliban.
Of course they could have been suicide bombers, even that kid. They are only Muslims after all, and we all know “those people” don’t respect human life as much as we do here in America.
Seriously, though, what is our continued presence in Afghanistan gaining for us? I’d like to know that all the billions of dollars we are spending to keep troops over there are accomplishing something that will benefit Afghanis and Americans. Yet, as the years of our military occupation continue to trundle by without any sign of progress on any front, civilian or military, I find it harder and harder to justify our presence there. I’m sure the Russians could remind us how wonderful their adventure in nation building in Afghanistan went, but I suspect their leaders are taking too much glee in seeing us make the same mistakes that they did, only with more expensive toys.
Well, I’m sure there are tons of reasons for American forces to stay “over there” for the indefinite future. I’m sure some of the comments to this post will mention them. I’m just not convinced anymore that those reasons are good ones. Are you?
