A suicide attack in Kabul, Afghanistan in the overnight hours May 18, 2010 claimed the lives of 18 people. This marked the most recent addition to the ever-rising death toll in that forsaken land.

Perhaps the most gruesome statistic of all is the fact that this tragedy marked a major milestone for the United States presence there. The five servicemen who lost their lives in the explosion and ensuing chaos pushed the total toll of Operation Enduring Freedom beyond 1,000.

As wars go, the death toll itself is not staggering. As the U.S. approaches its tenth year in country the average combat loss is still far smaller than what we suffer in Iraq. It is also far lower than anything the U.S. saw in Korea, Vietnam, or any theater of the First or Second World War.

However, the losses in Afghanistan seem empty by comparison. In every other instance the U.S. had a real enemy, even if that enemy could hide in plain sight. In Afghanistan and Iraq the U.S. not only does not know who it is fighting, it doesn’t not why it is fighting.

According to iCasualties.org, the United States has lost roughly 5,500 military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan. Dozens of American civilians have also lost their lives, and perhaps tens of thousands of Iraqis and Afghans have been cut down. What was, is, or continues to be the point of all of this bloodshed? What is the U.S. fighting for?

The recent events in Times Square seem to indicate that the United States is failing to squash terrorism worldwide. We have successfully destroyed al-Qaida in Afghanistan, and our coordinated efforts with the Pakistani government are wearing down the terrorist presence across the border.

Proof of our failed strategies

Unfortunately, the region is still a hot bed for anti-American sentiment and a breeding ground for terrorism. Thus far our military has followed the same partisan approach to counterterrorism that the Republicans have taken toward taxes and the “free traders” have taken to global commerce. If at first you don’t succeed, try and try the same old failed tactics again.

Sending in our troops in 2001 did not destroy the terrorist presence in Afghanistan, and invading Iraq in 2003 actually did more to create terrorists than anything else. Our response to these predicaments has simply been to send more troops. And the results have been, predictably, more death and more terror.

With the United States in the dilapidated state in which it currently resides, we can ill-afford these military forays. The human costs are too high. Every death is one too many. At the same time, the logistical costs of the conflicts are reaching a breaking point. The federal government lacks the funds to build schools, hire teachers, and fund a healthcare system. Yet, somehow, we always find the appropriations necessary to continue our endless wars.

The war has costs that go far beyond the bounds of simple dollars and cents, but those figures are the easiest to deal with.

We do not know whom we are fighting. We do not know why we are fighting. And when our troops do leave everything for which they fought will certainly crumble. The Karzai government in Afghanistan exists only because American troops are their to prop up its legitimacy. Whenever our troops leave, if they are ever permitted to do so, it will fall in kind and be replaced. It may well be replaced by something much like the Taliban that existed before we arrived.

After a decade of fighting and dying in the desert, what is the point? If we must be in Afghanistan, why not try a new approach? Why not have humanitarian efforts to build schools, foster literacy, and promote equality?

The terrorists fight America because it is seen as an evil foreign imperial occupier; and yet America’s response to this terrorism is to become the monster it is perceived to be. If we absolutely must stay in Afghanistan, and Iraq, it would be best to at least try an approach that involved more social engineering, and less combat strategy.

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