Obama Betrays His Campaign Promise, Will Leave Office with Thousands of Troops in Afghanistan

When President Obama ran his campaign for president in 2008, he largely focused on withdrawing from President Bush’s entanglements in the Middle East. Now, as his term comes to a close, it is obvious how he failed to follow through. Per the Washington Post, 8,400 troops will remain in Afghanistan after Obama leaves office. This is yet another glowing example of the president’s failure to follow through on his campaign promises.

Speaking at the White House, Obama remarked, “I strongly believe that it is in our national security interest, especially after all the blood and treasure we’ve invested in Afghanistan over the years, that we give our Afghan partners the very best opportunity to succeed.” As the Taliban has proven exceptionally difficult to eradicate, the president’s time frame has continually shifted.

As the war has continued for roughly a decade and a half, it brings up the question of what our goals are. The president is peddling an economic fallacy when he speaks of all the “blood and treasure” we’ve invested. Those are sunk costs, and can never be recovered. The lives that have been expended in this war will never return.

The real question is, in light of the goals we’ve pursued in the region, when can we expect this conflict to end? It appears as if we’ve taken on the role of Afghanistan’s policemen. It is now apparently our responsibility to keep Afghanistan a stable democracy. At some point, it’s worth considering what exactly the American people are getting out of this. Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies Todd Harrison gives a simple cost analysis below:

Avg, cost per troop in Afghanistan is ~$1.2M / yr, so keeping 8,400 troops rather than 5,500 should cost an extra ~$3.5B in FY17 #BudgetMath

— Todd Harrison (@ToddHarrisonDC) July 6, 2016

This is no small sum to be financed on the back of the American taxpayer. Afghanistan seems either unwilling or unable to control what goes on within its own borders. With the U.S. footing the bill and providing the services, it doesn’t make sense for them to. They can count on us to take care of their problems for them. NPR notes how few of the U.S.’s initial goals have come close to being met.

American leaders said Afghanistan could become a stable, peaceful place where violence was curtailed, opium was no longer the leading crop, and girls, not just boys, would go to school. Instead, the combat remains intense, the poppy business still finances the Taliban, and in some parts of the country going to school is risky business.

American leaders need to take a long look in the mirror and evaluate the future, not past, costs of reaching for stability in Afghanistan. It’s easy to imagine these 8,400 troops inflating upward drastically under a Trump or Clinton presidency.

If American blood and treasure is to be continually funneled into this area, there has to be some reasonable expectation of victory. Occupation is not an acceptable solution, and American citizens should demand answers about how this war is being prosecuted. The war-mongers have held the keys for too long, and it’s time they were suspended.