Reflecting on 20 years of war in Afghanistan

Reflecting on 20 years of war in Afghanistan

Jordon Daniel’s family has a strong military tradition. He carried on that tradition in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, enlisting in the Navy and heading to basic just a year after the war in Afghanistan began.

Now the coalitions director of Concerned Veterans for America-Colorado, Daniel works every day on behalf of his former brothers and sisters in arms. He’s also working on behalf of those still fighting.

“This year, we’ll reach the 20th anniversary of the war in Afghanistan. That milestone demands reflection, especially from those of us who served and have seen the true cost of our endless wars in Afghanistan and around the world,” the Littleton resident writes in an opinion piece in the Colorado Sun.

That reflection has led him to a conclusion.

“Our continued engagement in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Yemen and other countries does little if anything to make our country safer,” he writes. “It drains our finances, damages our military readiness, and puts troops’ lives in unnecessary danger. It’s time to end our nation’s endless wars.”

That doesn’t mean he rejects the mission he served and that so many fought and died for. “The United States needed to hunt down Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida for planning and executing terrorist attacks on our shores,” he writes. “We also needed to punish the Taliban for harboring al-Qaida.”

Those missions, he notes, were accomplished early on. Twenty years later, what’s left is a dubious attempt at nation building that continues to cost American lives but is not serving our vital national interest.

“We don’t want to see another Afghanistan anniversary go by while our brothers and sisters fight a war that is no longer viable or necessary,” Daniel concludes.

Read the rest of Jordon Daniel’s op-ed in The Colorado Sun.