Bill Hedrick on Afghanistan

We have more than 90,000 American troops in Afghanistan right now at a cost of more than $100 billion this 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.