are we needed there?

Why?

Why is the US still in Afghanistan? The situation is volatile. More people are being killed simply because we have a presence there. I will continue to hope that the burning of the Koran was an error, a horrible error, on the part of those working that day. I will continue to hope that no American, no person, would intentionally burn any Holy Text, ever. We all know there have been times when religious beliefs have been cause for genocide, for mistrust, for war, and I would hope that we, as humans, have learned from the past, from these atrocities, but perhaps not.

A friend from grad school is in town for my birthday, and she and I were talking about the incidents from last week in Afghanistan. She said, "remember that episode of The Waltons where the German family moves into town, and everyone starts to burn all their books (negative perceptions of Germans from WWII), and Johnboy grabs a book as it is about to ignite and asks the German father to translate the text. He reads a portion from Genesis. They were about to burn the Holy Bible." A barrier was created by hatred of a whole country due to the actions of a few zealots. This same barrier, hatred, overshadowed what was really important, the acceptance of diversity, the need for peace and understanding.

If the Afghani people believe that the burning if the Koran was intentional then there is little that can be done at the moment to quash the uprising that is building. How many people have to die in order to have a presence in a country that does not want it? Is it really all about oil? Is it about possessing what really is not ours to possess? Are we needed there? Is NATO needed there?