First, if we were to remove our troops it would save our country billions of dollars. We already spent a trillion dollars for six years on the Iraq War and now sending 30,000 more soldiers to occupy Afghanistan. It costs a million dollars to send one soldier to the Middle East. That’s thirty billion dollars for the soldiers we’re sending for only a year and not to mention we have seventy-thousand soldiers that are already there, and we’ll be withdrawing in June 2011. That’s two and a half years and very costly. With that much money we could use it on education, social security, renewable energy sources and research, and healthcare. All across the U.S we’re suffering from budget cuts. In education classes are being cut and more students are forced to be in bigger classes which make it hard for teachers to help students individually. Teachers are also affected by it, especially the newer ones who receive pink slips meaning they were the ones to get fired. After all, Obama did say, “The nation I’m most interested in building is our own.”
Second, setting a withdrawal date means troops get to return home. This would give families at home a feeling of reassurance and hope. Wouldn’t you want your brother, son, daughter, etc to come back to their country? Yes, there was that unfortunate incident at Fort Hood, but it's safer for them to be here than to be surrounded by enemies. Right now our soldiers are being redeployed in Afghanistan and some are even being redeployed for the second time. Bringing them back would mean that the lives of the troops would be saved and not put them at risk of being redeployed for the third or even fourth time. I think knowing that they’ll return in two and a half years is a lot better than knowing it’ll go on for another six. Another plus is if the soldiers were to return we would have more protection for ourselves. Most of our soldiers are being sent to Afghanistan and Iraq, but how many do we have here in the U.S?
Lastly, if we leave then it would give the Afghani people the opportunity to rebuild their own country. What good would it do for our troops continue to occupy their country and not give them the chance to restore their land? Besides, we’ve been there for so long now. Having soldiers who are equipped with guns and machinery in their country isn’t exactly welcoming. It’s like having your mother-in-law stay at your home. Afghanistan needs to be an independent country. This can’t be like Vietnam where we are fighting against the enemy in their case was communism and in our current situation terrorism. Most importantly with this time limit this would make Afghanistan’s government feel pressured and make lawmakers come to agreements in running a new democracy. In conclusion, I believe that the withdrawal date of American troops in 2011 isn’t bad because they safely get to return home, the Afghanis get to rebuild their country, and it would save the United States a lot of money which will allow us to restore our own.
