Some of our key allies are losing heart in Afghanistan. A sizable chunk of the American public is wondering why we're still there. Even some of our troops deploying there don't know exactly what their mission means for the nation.
Somebody in Washington should explain why the US and its allies are in Afghanistan.
Fortunately, someone is. It isn't the president. And it certainly isn't the public diplomacy shop at the State Department. No, nothing like that. That someone is KidsPost, the children's section of the Washington Post.
KidsPost frames the issue nicely in a headline: "Why the US Fights in Afghanistan." The subtitle: "The President Must Decide If More Troops Should Be Sent to Country Where 9/11 Terrorists Trained."
Margaret Webb Pressler of KidsPost and Post correspondent Rajiv Chandrasekaran do a nice job asking and answering the following questions for the kids:
- Why are US troops in Afghanistan?
- Is there a war in Afghanistan?
- Why has the situation gotten worse there?
- Why does it matter to us what happens in Afghanistan?
- What happens now?
- What about Iraq?
Pretty easy, no? Isn't it something that, say, the State Department's under-worked public diplomacy machinery could be telling our friends and allies around the world? Or that the president could be explaining to the public, now that he's actually met with General McChrystal?
Time is running out. A new BBC poll shows that 56 percent of Britons now oppose their country's military presence in Afghanistan. What meaningful thing has the US done to try to keep British public opinion up? Nothing that I've seen.
Thanks are due to my nine year-old who showed me the story tonight. If a child gets it, can't the president and the secretary of state?
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Posted by: D | October 08, 2009 at 04:41 AM