President Bush’s highlights and lowlights from the war in Afghanistan.
The war in Afghanistan was the first major conflict of the 21st century. The United States went to war with Afghanistan in 2001 following the attacks on 9/11. A group called the Taliban controlled 90% of Afghanistan at the time. The Taliban gave members of al-Qaeda refuge in Afghanistan. They have since been eradicated and have lost all power in Afghanistan. U.S forces are still on the ground in Afghanistan today. President Obama has started to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, but there is an estimated 63,000 troops there now. In 2014 it is estimated to only be about 34,000. Obama’s biggest concern is that once we leave terrorist will take the country over again.
President Bush demanded that the Taliban hand over Osama Bin Laden so he could pay for the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centers, Pentagon, and the tragedy of flight 93. The Taliban refused to hand him over so Bush invaded Afghanistan on October 7th, 2001. In the past 12 years this war has taken the lives of 2,146 service men and women who were stationed in Afghanistan. Two years after the war in Afghanistan started on March 20th, 2003 the U.S went to war with Iraq.
Americans are very timid about going into another conflict because of the Afghanistan and Iraq war. The war was a major setback in the national economy and the country has suffered from it. 30% of Veterans that took a Pew Research Center Poll said that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq wasn’t worth fighting. President Bush responded to that by saying “I hope history proves them wrong,” “The only way for there to be peace is for free societies to emerge. And, you know, history takes a while to unfold,” “I happen to think it was worth fighting. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have put them into combat.”
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Comments
Good but no personal thoughts.