No More Troops to Afghanistan

by Bill Hedrick

In October, as I drove away from Fort Benning after seeing my son, Adam and his wife Natalie off for their third tours of duty in Iraq, I remember thinking quite clearly — "Right now, at least it's not Afghanistan."

But for the families of 40,000 soldiers, it very well may be. They are sitting on the edge of their seats as they wait for military experts and commanders to decide whether or not to send their sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters to Afghanistan as part of a proposal to send in more troops with an open-ended commitment.

I am a member of a military family. I am proud of the service of my sons and daughters-in-law to our country.But I cannot support sending more troops to Afghanistan.

A clear mission with an attainable goal needs to be laid out for Afghanistan. Then our troops need to be brought home as quickly and safely as possible.We should not commit to putting more of our brave men and women at risk.And we need to stop spending taxpayer money halfway around the globe while the effects of the Bush recession continue to plague our economy.

We have 68,000 American troops in Afghanistan right now at a cost of more than $65 billion this year.Sending 40,000 more troops will cost another $40 billion per year.That's a cost of $1 million per soldier per year to be in Afghanistan. Every one of those billions of dollars spent over there is one less spent here at home.

We could spend those billions of dollars to:

• Provide tax cuts to middle class families and small businesses to get our economy moving again
• Invest in schools, health care, and our local roads and freeways
• Provide job training
• Invest in clean energy so we can reduce our dependence on foreign oil, create jobs, and reduce pollution and global warming
• Take on the special interests of Wall Street and the other subprime lenders that helped create our economic mess

We cannot afford to commit more troops to Afghanistan.There is too much at stake right now, right here at home.

We must develop a clear strategy for bringing our young men and women home, while continuing to support Afghanistan and its people through diplomatic and humanitarian support. We need to set a clear exit strategy, benchmarks, and timeline for drawdown of troops so we can take care of our own, and allow Afghanistan to do the same.

Sincerely,

Bill Hedrick

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