According to Fox News President Obama has stated that ‘victory’ is not necessarily the goal in Afghanistan.  As the mother of a Marine who has spent some time there and will be spending some time there in the future, I am furious at that statement. 

The President told ABC News:

“We are confident that if we are assisting the Afghan people and improving their security situation, stabilizing their government, providing help on economic development … those things will continue to contract the ability of Al Qaeda to operate. And that is absolutely critical,”

If we do not win in Afghanistan (and by winning I mean help stabilize their government and do enought damage to Al Qaeda so that they cannot command operations from there), then we will have wasted the treasure of American lives for nothing.  Just for the record, the first step in winning in Afghanistan would be to eradicate the poppy crop and teach the people to grow something else.  A lot of Al Qaeda’s money comes from the drug trade.  This is a worldwide problem and ending the poppy business in Afghanistan would help people all over the world.

We are all tired of the war and wish it would end, but now is not the time to begin to make excuses that will lead to withdrawal before the country can survive.