(Last of 2 parts)

In Part One of "Fight It Right Or Leave It Alone," I discussed what happens when a faulty strategy is used to fight a way. That leads me now to what is happening in Afghanistan today.

You might recall that the United States invaded Afghanistan in 1991 after the 9/11 terrorists attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C. The object was to destroy the al-Qaeda terrorist network responsible for the American attacks and the Taliban government that gave al-Qaeda free reign to recruit and train terrorists in Afghanistan.

For updates from around the country, follow Sun.Star on Twitter

U.S. Special Forces teams and CIA paramilitary operatives joined forces with anti-Taliban militias to kick the Taliban out of Afghanistan. Those al-Qaeda terrorists who survived the initial onslaught of the Specops forces and Afghan militias were pushed into Pakistan.

In its own way, the campaign was pretty brilliant. The United States didn't expend a lot of manpower or suffer a lot of casualties in achieving its immediate goal of driving the Taliban out of power in Afghanistan.

But instead of finishing the job, President George W. Bush allowed himself to get distracted by Iraq. When he invaded Iraq in 2003, he lost the initiative in Afghanistan.

And now the Americans are paying the price for such a blunder. The Taliban have made a return to Afghanistan and they have taken the initiative in the remote regions of the country.

There are now almost 70,000 American and British troops in Afghanistan and that number will probably grow. And once again, the United States doesn't seem to have a sound strategy for how it is going to win this war.

And if they don't win this war, then look out folks, because Islamic extremism will use their Afghan success to launch broader and more deadly attacks throughout Asia and the Western world.

This is one conflict the United States canÆt afford to lose. But they very well might.

There is no question that Afghanistan is a tough place to fight a war. The Chinese, the Mongols, the Indians, the British, the Soviet Union all tried to do battle there and while all of them had initial success, they eventually were bled dry and left the region.

I've been in Afghanistan. It is not a pleasant place. But few wars are fought in pleasant places. If they were, we would always be invading the French Riviera.

The current American military leader in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, wants additional troops. He has recommended an infusion of 40,000 troops into Afghanistan. It is doubtful that he is going to get them.

The Afghan war is becoming very unpopular in the United States and casualties are increasing every month as the Taliban has gained strength in the remote regions along the Pakistan-Afghan border and in the southern region of the country.

President Barack Obama's own political parties, the Democrats, are growing very vocal in their criticism of how the war is being fought. Added to that are concerns about corruption that is rampant in the Afghan government and the fact that the Afghans are years behind in creating their own standing army and police force.

There are reports out of Washington that Obama is considering a strategy of limiting the number of troops that will be sent to Afghanistan and is instead thinking about making peace overtures to the Taliban.

Of course, Obama is also mindful of the criticism he will receive from the opposition party, the Republicans, and their conservative sector of the United States if it appears that he is appeasing the Taliban. So he has stated that even if he caves in to the Taliban, he will continue to wage an active campaign against al-Qaeda. Problem is, how will he do it if he allows the Taliban to gain an official foothold in southern Afghanistan and along the Pakistan-Afghan border? He can't.

But I think the War in Afghanistan has already been lost. We lost it recently when General McChrystal authorized a plan that pulled back American and British forces from remote mountain outposts and brought them into Afghanistan's major cities to provide better security for Afghan citizens.

This is a retreat that will come back to haunt the Americans in a year or two. Because without putting pressure on the Taliban in their centers of influence in the mountains, you give them greater strength and certainly greater credibility with the Afghan people.

What will result from this terrible strategic decision is that the Afghan cities will become the target. There will be a greater number of suicide bombings in the major Afghan cities. And it is inevitable that al-Qaeda members will return to relative safety in the areas of Afghanistan that will be under Taliban control. Don't expect neighboring Pakistan to complain when the Taliban and al-Qaeda leave their country.

Sadly, the situation in Afghanistan requires clear thinking and moral courage. I don't see any of it in evidence in Washington, the Pentagon or Kabul right now. And if the politicians and the generals arenÆt going to fight the war in Afghanistan with the same level of courage and commitment as their troops are expected to do every day, then the United States should take their troops out now.

Fight the war properly or leave the place alone.