Say a US citizen is walking down the road with two of his friends. He’s known one for about six months and the other for years. All of a sudden, the guy he thought he knew for six months, pulls out a gun and shoots the both of them. That’s what happened to four United States troops who were killed by their Afghanistan partners. It’s finally time to say that the US has lost the support of the Afghan people and we need to leave. For all that we’ve done lately and the way their people took it, the results make total sense. It’s time to go.

We started out by burning the Quran. Why we did it? I don’t know, but there’s no way to take it back now. Retired Colonel, Peter Mansoor, puts it this way, “Yes, we inadvertently burned the Qurans, but it was a mistake. It wasn’t intentional. We weren’t saying, ‘Screw Islam.’” So now we’ve done something wrong and what do most people do? Apologize. That’s exactly what Obama did. He apologized. But it came with a huge political risk. After Obama apologized, Republican candidate Newt Gingrich called the apology a surrender. He says, “If Mr. Karzai doesn’t feel like apologizing for the killing of US soldiers by Afghans, then we should say, ‘Goodbye and good luck,’ and we don’t need to be here risking our lives and wasting it on somebody who doesn’t care.”

We’ve apologized and that’s great and all, but apparently that’s never good enough. What can you do though? I mean, we burned their holy books. It’d be like them coming over here and burning our bibles. I can see why they weren’t exactly happy with just an apology. That’s not going to get their books back. But was shooting us really necessary? Did a Taliban sympathizer really have to go and shoot a lieutenant colonel and a major in the back of their heads? The Afghans view this as disrespect to their culture and religion and an apology just won’t cut it. So yes, in their eyes, they feel the need to take it out on the rest of the US.

Resulting from all of this, a US soldier, age 38, went on a rampage killing sixteen Afghan citizens in two towns, including women and children. This 38 year old man was on his fourth military deployment. The first three were in Iraq and he was told he would not have to go back. I completely understand why someone would be upset knowing that they didn’t have to go back and then poof someone says, “Did you hear? You get to go to Afghanistan next month! Yeah for you!” then walks away. That’s probably not how it happened but you get the idea.

Then when Leon Panetta goes to visit Afghanistan and the Marines waiting for him almost get run over. This guy was driving a stolen vehicle full of gasoline tanks. He was subdued only after a military dog was set out. His clothes were ablaze and he had burns over 70% of his body. This was written in an article by Julian E. Barnes for the Wall Street Journal, “The vehicle missed the Marines, driving into a ditch 100 yards away.” Witnesses say, “Saw a puff of smoke, then saw the driver emerge engulfed in flames.” Also, before trying to hit the Marines, that same man tried to run over a British soldier and injured him. If I were there and someone tried to run me over with a van, I’d say, “See you later. I’m leaving and there’s nothing you can do to change my mind,” pack my bags and leave.
I just don’t get why we’re still over there. Apparently the Afghans can’t appreciate us being there anymore. The stuff we did was bad enough but the way they took it hurt everyone, even people not in the war directly. I don’t want to sit around and wait for my best friend to stab me in the back because of it. Or shoot me for that matter. Let’s leave while we can because if we wait much longer, there aren’t going to be any soldiers coming home.