Mike Rey Gascon: Why are any Americans left in Afghanistan?
On the TV news on the night of April 7, the media informed us that an Afghanistan soldier had shot and killed an American Marine. Being a former Marine, I got upset at our government again. We should have all our troops home now!
Why can’t our politicians and the American voters wise up. To get wise, all you have to do is see the movie “Charlie Wilson’s War.” Sure this took place in the 1980s, but it’s a true story about how a congressman from Texas and a renegade CIA agent stopped the Soviet military from invading Afghanistan. There is no oil in that country. What they wanted is the territory and maybe more. This backward country defeated the great Soviet forces when a congressman and a CIA agent got them the proper arms. That is all the Afghans wanted.
You would think our government would learn from this incident. But no. After the war ended, Rep. Wilson tried to get Congress to help start schools; he said 35 percent of the population is 14 years of age. When he asked, “Who wants to help Pakistan?” no one answered. That is what we should have done instead of sending our boys.
Mike Rey Gascon, Modesto
This story was originally published April 14, 2015 at 1:50 PM with the headline "Mike Rey Gascon: Why are any Americans left in Afghanistan?."