The New Middle East: Afghanistan (Part Two of Four)

     Since the Afghanistan war started in the fall of 2001, it has been really hectic within the region.  I remember being in high school and the whole drama of September 11^th and the aftermath of the event.  When the decision was made to go to Afghanistan to fight terrorism, it made sense and seemed like the right thing to do.  I will still defend the decision that President Bush made to go into Afghanistan. [Yes, during my high school years, I was an avid republican who was heavily involved with politics – surprise, surprise.]  The sidestep of going into Iraq due to their connections with 9/11/01 was a complete travesty.  The “weapons of mass destruction” quagmire was just “rally around the flag” rhetoric. It makes sense to support one’s country and their international positions, but it also takes a lot to question the reasons behind such decisions as well as looking at all the facts surrounding the critical events surrounding such long-term consequences.

            The fact that the United States neglected Afghanistan for a long time, well not neglect per-se but not consider enough time and resources to the issue, circumvents the reality of Afghanistan being an albatross around the United States’ neck. The fact of the matter is that the United States has made Afghanistan a better country, but at the same time the government that was hand-picked by U.S. personnel has essentially given us a slap in the face when it comes to cooperation.  There have been more attacks within the country since 2006 due to U.S. involvement, the Karzai administration has stated multiple times that the Obama Administration is not trusting and the relationship has been strand by broken diplomacy between the Obama Administration.

            Let me back up for a moment and state that the United States has done a lot of good things for the country.  We have assisted in the building of their police force, we have trained her military, we have helped rid their land of ground explosives and roadside bombs, and we have helped educate their children. In turn, the Afghanistan government doesn’t trust the Obama Administration, they have discussed the major exit of U.S. troops by the end of 2014, doesn’t trust security forces of the US (and other countries but more-so the United States), making claims against the United States helping terrorists destabilizing the Afghan country, and basically acting like a spoiled little brat child.  At this point, I feel that the United States has done as much as it can do with regards to getting the country back on its feet.  We have been there long enough and it is time for the United States to exit Afghanistan.  It does us no good to continue to occupy a country that clearly doesn’t want us there. In fact, it is because of the heated tensions between the United States and Afghanistan governments that lead me to believe that the “War on Terror” in Afghanistan may have been won at the very beginning, but we are slowly going back to the way things were pre-9/11. Are we really winning in Afghanistan? I really don’t think we are….we have only wasted a lot of money in an area of the country that we were justified in occupying; but, since we have completed major tasks within the region, we can shift our focus on more pressing matters such as domestic issues and other international areas of the world.  Will we ever learn…I would like to think we can learn something.

The Fearful Generation

     So this is what the twenty-first century is going to be like for future generations.  Unfortunately, my generation is forced to be the guinea pigs.  During my time of growing up into adulthood, I have lived through some horrific events.   The thing that sets me, and my generation, apart from other ones is that we truly move forward.  In fact, at times we are pushed forward.  Many of my fellow peers are very apathetic regarding the way things are done within their lives.  While I am not one of those individuals, I often question what I stand for and why.  Like many others in my generation, we always seem to try and find ourselves making it through a distressful time within the current United States realm.

     Growing up, my generation has always been threated in one way or another; yet, we always muster strength to will ourselves to the next step in our lives.  While some of us were to young to understand what the Oklahoma City Bombing was about or why it happened, or even the Olympics in Atlanta, it makes more sense as an adult on why & how things happen. While it may make sense, such events are senseless to any rational human being. Moving through the 1990s, I specifically remember the events at Columbine High School in 1999.  The only reason this is vivid is because I was in the sixth grade and I had just moved to North Carolina.  Since I was kind of the “strange kid” who kept to himself, I somehow was the one everyone was suddenly afraid of.   Whether it was because I dressed differently, spoke differently, or just acted beyond my eleven years (at the time), the other kids didn’t want to upset me or anything like that.  After about a week, things went back to normal and I was the kid who always got picked on.  I am not going to say bullied because I wasn’t really bullied. Kids will be kids, yes; but today’s kids are just different than how my generation was raised & acted.

     Moving on to my freshman year in high school, it was the year of the worst terrorist attack since Pearl Harbor.  Actually, let me rewind that for a minute: in the eight grade, there were threats made to the high school and I remember walking down the either grade hall and the fire alarm going off and teachers telling their students to not go outside because that was it was a trap.  Nothing happened, but it was still scary. Yet we marched on towards adulthood..

     These fears followed into college with Virginia Tech; our military friends were threated by events such as the USS Cole bombing, Ft. Hood shooting, and other things. It doesn’t matter what the events are…they all portray the thing that truly gets to every person at some point or another: Fear.

     My generation gets a lot of crap from previous generations. We are either young and naïve or just stupid.  We over-think things and tend to not care about others.  As much as I would love to agree with those generations, I simply can’t.  My generation is strong, brave, and afraid of nothing.  We might slip from time to time and we might be apathetic to some issues, but my generation knows what is important to keep the legacy of the United States going. We are a strong bunch of men and women, and we are proud of our stubbornness.  We fight for what is right and we stand ready to face whatever comes our way.  If we are presented with conflict or times of tragedy, we cry but march forward ready to tackle important issues and create a better generation. The events in Boston are tragic, and certainly acts of terrorism. However, I believe it is essentially an event to where my generation will finally say in one collective voice “enough is enough, we are all Americans!” So yes, you can call us a generation of fear…but as for us, we will be remembered as the Fearless Generation.