On Wednesday, the Pew Research Center released a poll indicating that only a third of American servicemen and women believe the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been worth the costs. All of these complicated factors weigh on American efforts to withdraw troops from the country. The findings came only two days before the tenth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. Afghanistan is now the recipient of the largest amounts of aid in the world, accruing $33 billion over the past decade. But the country is still struggling, facing an unprecedented drought and appealing for food aid for the nearly ten million people who are suffering because of it.
David Loyn, international development correspondent for the BBC, discusses where the $33 billion that has been given to Afghanistan has gone. Genevieve Chase, an Army reservist who served in Afghanistan in 2006, and founder of American Women Veterans, responds to the Pew poll.
Comments [2]
According to Frontline and other sources, the invasion of Iraq was an existing plan, more like a concept, given the opportunity to implement by way of the 9/11 attacks. Chances are it was going to happen one way or another. I feel it has changed EVERYTHING about us fundamentally and has torn apart the last 10 years of all our lives. To some directly, and to the rest of us in ways we have not yet realized.
It was suspected but has just been stated that the Vatican urged President Bush not to invade Iraq, that war is better avoided. Not to blame President Bush, how else would one react after 9/11, but it didn't work out well.
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