When will it end? I feel so overwhelmed when I think about the war for longer than a few minutes. It’s an inexplicable luxury to be able to stop thinking about it when I want to. And I feel guilty about it. I feel ashamed. 

npr:

“We are spending $100 billion or close to that a year, as well as an expenditure of blood that is now over 1,200 killed and countless others wounded. And we have lost sight of what this is or what this is not doing to keep Americans safe from terrorism.”

– Former CIA counterterrorism official Paul Pillar

“The reality is while we have been there for nine years, we’re only now starting to make a serious effort to win the war. The surge is only now taking effect, and operations of the surge forces are only now beginning, and we know that counterinsurgency is doable, but it takes time.”

– Max Boot, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations

From the story Dissent Grows Over US Presence In Afghanistan