The ranking U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, Army Gen. John W. Nicholson Jr., recently termed the military situation there to be a “stalemate.” The bottom line is the usual: We need more able bodies, more weapons, more resources.

Fifteen years and counting, the longest war in our nation’s history continues to turn in circles from one administration to another like water down the bathtub drain. Now, it is Donald Trump’s turn to ramp up involvement to the tune of “thousands of troops and billions of dollars” as the Pentagon has requested.

Just how impoverished are we, the people, willing to become from a foreign policy based on endless war? Must we continue sacrificing the education of our children, the health care of our working people and elderly, the social welfare of our most vulnerable and the lives and minds of our soldiers young and old to feed the endless appetite of war?

“Stalemate,” “deadlock” – call it what you will. As for me, the term “quagmire” comes to mind.

Thomas Kircher

Biddeford


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