STREAM EXCLUSIVE ORIGINALS

Should Our Troops in Afghanistan Come Home?


November 12, 2007 – 

Veteran’s Day arrived Sunday with another tragic reality for U.S. troops: It has been the deadliest year for Americans in Afghanistan since the U.S. invasion six years ago.

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The news followed an ambush by Afghan insurgents who killed six members of a U.S. foot patrol high in the mountains in eastern Afghanistan, according to U.S. military officials.

 

Just last week, the American people learned that this has also been the most lethal year for U.S. troops in Iraq.

 

In Afghanistan, the foot patrol apparently was returning from a late-Friday meeting with village elders in the province of Nuristan when they were met with rocket-propelled grenades and gunfire, The Associated Press reported.

 

"They were attacked from several enemy positions at the same time," Lt. Col. David Accetta told The Associated Press, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force and the U.S. military. "It was a complex ambush."

 

So far this year, at least 101 U.S. troops have been killed in Afghanistan in their campaign to rid the nation of Taliban and al-Qaida following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States.

 

Tragically, the Afghan people also have seen a tremendous rise in violence and death over the past year, the deadliest since the Taliban have been booted out of power.

 

Nearly 6,000 Afghans have died so far this year in insurgency-related violence, says AP, pointing to statistics provided by Afghan and Western officials.

 

"With Sunday being Veterans Day, this is a reminder of the sacrifices that our troops and our Afghan partners make for the peace and stability of the Afghan people," Accetta said.

 

The debate usually centers on the war in Iraq; but should our troops fighting in Afghanistan come home?

 

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