I was recently reminded by Tracey Kidders Vietnam memoir of an officer’s responsibility; “mission, men, self”. I am sure veterans know this better than I do.

As it applies to Afghanistan, what is the mission now? Can anyone tell me? To keep fighting? To win? I thought a mission was something specific and finite. Like “take hill XYZ” or “remove leader Q” (as in Qaddafi) from power. Keeping the Karzai government in power is not a mission statement. That is not finite; it is open ended. It is also questionable whether the Karzai administration has any power or is even a legitimate government.

The responsibility to “men”, the responsibility of all Americans to “support our troops” should include advocating, even agitating to remove them from harm’s way as expeditiously as possible when there is no clearly defined, obtainable objective.

It is time to leave Afghanistan.