U.S. in Afghanistan? Why?

Eventually, Americans were necessarily going to face the question, what exactly are we doing in Afghanistan? What is our national interest there? And how long are we willing to stay?

And now, after 10 long years, we sense that war-weary Americans are not just asking the questions, but demanding answers.

Clearly, the United States has no long-term strategic interest in Afghanistan per se, and the U.S. is famously the most non-imperial global power in world history; our people have no interest in colonial occupation of a country that, frankly, quite often demonstrates that it doesn’t want us there.

We don’t pretend to know the best way to go about withdrawing forces from Afghanistan, but it is becoming more clear that ultimately it must get under way. President Barack Obama announced last week that the U.S. presence of about 100,000 troops will be drawn down by 10,000 this year, and an additional 20,000 next year, with an end-game plan of withdrawing entirely by 2014.

That plan has drawn consternation from military leaders concerned about the security of remaining forces and losing gains already achieved, and it has drawn criticism from hawks on the right and doves on the left.

It has also been criticized as being politically motivated, which is probably true. But politics often reflect the will of the country, and in this case, there is a waning will to carry on with an ambiguous war in an enigmatic country at great cost in blood and treasure. After nearly 10 years, it is by far the longest military engagement in U.S. history, and more than 1,500 American lives have been lost.

That toll is hard to overlook. Our American soldiers have fought valiantly and well, carrying out their mission. But how much more can we ask those soldiers to bear? The initial goal of overthrowing the Taliban government is long since achieved, and as of this year, the underlying mission of taking out Osama bin Laden has also been completed.

Nor can we ignore the cost of the war in dollars, at $2 billion per week. When the U.S. is faced with staggering deficits, a weakened economy and ongoing congressional disputes over how to deal with spending and the national debt, it is vital that we fully consider the best use of our limited resources.

It is interesting that the war was regarded as righteous in the wake of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and it was considered the “good war” only a few short years ago. But part of the declared mission was always to prepare Afghan security forces to protect themselves and to prevent a return of the oppressive Taliban regime.

We have always supported that goal, but there is no reason to believe that than Karzai government is growing any stronger as a result of our policy. Sooner or later, that government will need to survive on its own, without our military support.

Indeed, the American military presence in Afghanistan was never intended to be a permanent one. It is time to consider other options, and the president ought to be asking his generals to explore ways to expedite a timely and safe withdrawal — not for political reasons, but because nothing else makes sense.