Who is going to guard the opium plantations and the oil/gas pipelines they are building through Afghanistan? Perhaps Israel should fill the void instead of poor ordinary Westerners dying for Corporate greed.

The reason why they are leaving Afghanistan is that the USA needs these forces to attack Lybia,Syria and Iran for it's oil.It is called Corporate Imperialism.Zibigniew Brezezinski in his book' The Grand Chessboard'in 1996."What we need is a truely massive and widely perceived direct external threat." That threat was their contrived terrorism."We need a new Pearl harbour" echoed by the elites in the USA before 911.

The reality is the the USA simply cannot afford the war in
Afghanistan anymore. Too many Afghans are treating the whole thing
as an enormous cash cow to be milked. Obama gave the Petreuos option
a go, we'll see if it worked or not.

Afghans have to stand on their own two feet, as one time or another.
I don't think that Obama is being unreasonable. Main thing is
America can retain an interest and a few drones can achieve a huge
amount, far more then tens of thousands of troops on the ground.

If the people of Afghanistan are unwilling to help themelves and
their country, the West cannot do it for them forever.
America is broke, get used to it.

Ciaran, while I agree with almost everything you have written here, I think you have one thing wrong.

I don't think anything Obama decides to do in Afghanistan will have any effect on his standing in history.

He has all ready made enough stupid decisions, & put enough future catastrophes in train, that any effect of his Afghanistan policies will be a be very minor postscript in the scheme of things.

To put your just to clarify the context of your "quote" Arjay. ZBIGNIEW BRZEZINSKI said:

"Moreover, as America becomes an increasingly multicultural
society, it may find it more difficult to fashion a consensus on foreign
policy issues, except in the circumstances of a truly massive
and widely perceived direct external threat. Such a consensus generally
existed throughout World War II and even during the Cold
War. It was rooted, however, not only in deeply shared democratic
values, which the public sensed were being threatened, but also in
a cultural and ethnic affinity for the predominantly European victims
of hostile totalitarianisms."

Which by your logic means that they need this war so they can fight this war? If it is about resources, then why is the US still broke after apparently successfully invading Iraq for their oil? By this shouldn't the wars be making them a profit?

The United States Armed Forces have achieved a major victory. Al Qaeda is all but non existent in Afghanistan. The U.S. soldiers, airmen, marines, and Navy are the greatest fighting force in the history of the world, and with the support of brave coalition allies, the objective of extricating al Qaeda from Afghanistan has been achieved.

Whether or not the Kabul Government can maintain a standing army in the future, thus preventing a resurgence of the Afghani Taliban led by Mullah Omar and the Quetta Shura, it is very unlikely the latter will be invite Qaeda fighters back into their midst. It is more than likely that Mullah Omar regrets his reluctant invitation to Bin Laden and Zawahari to take refuge within Afghan borders. That reluctant invitation resulted in the attacks on the United States and the removal of Omar from the seat of power in Kabul and Kandahar and the occupation of Afghanistan by American and coalition forces.

The citizens of the United States owe much to our armed forces and it is incumbent upon the government and people of the U.S. to welcome our forces back home and to provide them with all necessary financial, medical psychological and spiritual support that they may and will require.

This is without doubt the silliest piece of rubbish I have ever read on the internet. This Arjay must be a rabid red pushing his Soviet era agenda, or very young school kid or a who knows absolutely nothing of the real world at all.

Stezza,It is the US Federal Reserve who creates all the money for the Govt and most of their economy from nothing,that has all the power.The US Govt does not profit from the wars.It is the Bankers and Wall St who own the shares in the Oil Companies and the arms manufacturers who profit from war.JFK made this observation when referring to the Military Industrial Complex.He should also included banking/share market.

*It is the Bankers and Wall St who own the shares in the Oil Companies*

Funny that, Arjay. When BP got into all sorts of bother and had to
cut its dividend, they followed the money to see who ultimately
owned the shares and who was going to lose their dividends. It was
British mum and dad pensioners who owned a large chunk as part of
their super fund plans, even if they were not aware of it.

Many of those largest investors on Wall St are indeed pension
funds and sovereign wealth funds, who own these shares on behalf
of you guessed it, the people. Even bankers are owned by somebody.
The largest investors in Australian banks are you guessed it,
Australian workers with a super fund. Which is virtually all workers.

But you will continue to see the world through the eyes of a
conspiracy theorist. Any conspiracy will do, it seems.

Yabby,I'm talking mostly about the Central Banks ie the Rothschilds.Your super fund is not allowed to share in their profits via counterfeiting.Yes and one oil company had a drop in profits.Big deal.Look at the others.So JFK the USA greatest modern President is a conspiracy nut also?

Arjay, Rothchilds are not a central bank and banks cannot take
profits out of central banks or sell their stake. The system was
set up to keep politicians at arms length from the piggy trough,
for we know what they do when their snouts are in it.

Profits from both the US Fed and Australian Reserve bank are paid
to their respective federal treasuries. They have a clear charter
about the health of the economy, with which they have to comply.
That is their main role, making economic decisions which are at
arms length from politics.

The fact remains, the major stakeholders in oil companies are super
funds. Wall St is simply where people trade.

JFK has been dead a good 50 years now, the world has moved on in that
time.

Yabby and Ron Paul is a nutter also for wanting to End the US Federal Reserve?It is the biggest parasite on all humanity and you want to protect it.They are a private group of banks and no amount of equivocation will dispell that reality.They are responsible for the GFC and continue to profit off the misery of others.

Ah Arjay, you mean that Ron Paul was who part of the Republican
party under Bush, who nearly destroyed the US economy after it
was handed to them in good condition by Clinton. That Ron Paul
was wants to get rid of the SEC completely, after it was turned
into a toothless tiger by Bush and the republicans, so that
criminals could run rampant with no policeman at all.

What the Reserve banks are doing is trying to fix the disasters
created by politicians, who were foolishly elected by voters.
Its the same in Europe. Politics created the Greek disaster
and now private banks are meant to wear the losses when
the whole Greek and EU story comes crashing down around their
ears. Now they are realising that the public will lose their
shirts if the banks go broke, so its the Reserve Banks who have
to bale them out as best they can.

That is the problem with democracy. It is full of flaws and
unfortunately is the best system that we have. Those flaws
sure are showing.

Yabby his own party members don't like him.They have all sold out to the banksters.When there is a a poll within Republican registered members Ron Paul wins all the straw polls .He has decided to work within the system for greatest effect.He constantly derides their policies.Paul is for freedom,restoration of the Consitution ending the wars and the US Fed Res.What do you stand for Yabby?

Arjay, if Ron Paul was for freedom, he would not be trying to ban
abortions. Fact is that Paul was a member of the Republicans so
carries a share of the blame. His policy to get rid of the SEC
would be like getting rid of the police and then wondering why
crimes are committed.

My politics is left of the right and right of the left, so about
in the middle. I believe in small but efficient Govt. But I also
believe that in a first world economy you don't need to leave
people in the streets or send them bankrupt if they go to hospital.

America is becoming a land of extremes. Personally I think that
Obama is very much middle of the road and represents my kind of
politics. Even McCain admits that part of the new republican
tea party movement are going off the scales and are dangerous.

It has been my opinion that the reporters and editors have been very gullible. They blew normal soldier bitching way out of proportion just to get a byline. I suspect that Gen. McChrystal manipulated their lack of experience into gaining for himself the dark horse nomination at the GOP Convention for 2012.

Afghanistan is in a strategic geo-political position at the center of Asia. If we were not fighting there, someone else would be. And even after our voracious appetite for consuming resources has left that region impoverished, the warring will still continue for one rationalization or another. This is just it's place in history.

America has displayed that it can move an army twenty thousand miles, drop it into the middle of enemy sanctuary's and slug it out to the bitter end. You can bet that China is paying attention. Their failure to spread prosperity to a majority of their population has left them tottering to the edge of self-immolation.

A mercenary American military, equipped and experienced for modern urban warfare, may be the last hope of China's regime. That bringing in veteran peacekeepers might buy them enough time to prevent total collapse.

Yabby has not an unborn child the right to exist?If the State can legalise the death of a baby,how long before they can make our existance illegal.

I don't agree with all Paul's policies.There should be fair trade,not free trade.The US Fed is the source of the GFC and they continue to plunder our economies via contrived debt.

Arjay, an embryo is not a person, it is an organism. Next you
will be wanting rights for sperms.

George Bush caused the GFC, he made the rules, he removed the
regulators, Cheney made it clear that the US Dollar was not
America's problem but everyone elses problem.

Bush and Cheney were elected by the US public, so they carry
their share of the blame.