8. The Afghanistan-Shaped Hole in the Presidential Campaigns

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/09/the-afghanistan-shaped-hole-in-the-presidential-campaigns/262059/

Joshua Foust's article, "The Afghanistan-Shaped Hole in the Presidential Campaigns" affirms that the conflict of the Afghanistan war is not being discussed in either of the two presidential campaigns (of Obama and of Romney), clarifying the challenges of finding a way to prevent disaster in Afghanistan as well as in the U.S. public or political responses. Foust begins to support his point by addressing the failure of Obama's 2009 Afghanistan campaign which resulted with more violence and negative U.S. public responses to participation in the Afghan war. Obama's goal to make "the country free of al Queda, the taliban out of power, and the Afghan security services to be able to handle the country's internal security on their own" is not demonstrating efficiency expected by the day-to-day managements and the amount of American concern devoted in Afghanistan. Instead, there are still many Afghan cities facing much challenge of building self-sustatinment within themselves, such as Jalalabad in which its people had recently been attacked by suicide bombings. Foust notes that this significant problem had not been mentioned or acknowledged during the lengthy speeches of the two presidential nominees, seemingly due to no clear solutions ready for proposal. A difficult decision has to be made  "either to maintain or expand its mission despite its unpopularity at home, or watching the  country decline into even deeper violence." Foust indicates the negative responses of the American citizens through a poll statistic noting that most Americans are supporting immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops, or thinking that the war is not worth it. He also acknowledges the terrible conditions to which Afghanistan will fall into without the support of the U.S. 

Foust's purpose of publishing this article is to inform the adult class of American citizens of the significant challenges of the Afghanistan war. Through this article, he strongly implies that this problem should not be ignored as it is being done in both of the presidential campaigns because the choices made by the U.S. will have a great impact on the future of Afghanistan.