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Lucas Jackson / Reuters, file
Paratroopers from Chosen Company of the 3rd Battalion (Airborne), 509th Infantry rest towards the end of a helicopter assault mission to improve their biological database, near the town of Ahmad Khel in Afghanistan's Paktiya Province on July 16.
KABUL, Afghanistan -- It was once President Barack Obama's "war of necessity." Now, it's America's forgotten war.
The Afghan conflict generates barely a whisper on the U.S. presidential campaign trail. It's not a hot topic at the office water cooler or in the halls of Congress — even though more than 80,000 American troops are still fighting here and dying at a rate of one a day.
Americans show more interest in the economy and taxes than the latest suicide bombings in a different, distant land. They're more tuned in to the political ad war playing out on television than the deadly fight still raging against the Taliban. Earlier this month, protesters at the Iowa State Fair chanted "Stop the war!" They were referring to one purportedly being waged against the middle class.
By the time voters go to the polls Nov. 6 to choose between Obama and presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney, the war will be in its 12th year. For most Americans, that's long enough.
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'Bumper sticker deep'
Public opinion remains largely negative toward the war, with 66 percent opposed to it and just 27 percent in favor in a May AP-GfK poll. More recently, a Quinnipiac University poll found that 60 percent of registered voters felt the U.S. should no longer be involved in Afghanistan. Just 31 percent said the U.S. is doing the right thing by fighting there now.
Not since the Korean War of the early 1950s — a much shorter but more intense fight — has an armed conflict involving America's sons and daughters captured so little public attention.
"We're bored with it," said Matthew Farwell, who served in the U.S. Army for five years including 16 months in eastern Afghanistan, where he sometimes received letters from grade school students addressed to the brave Marines in Iraq — the wrong war.
Hoshang Hashimi / AP
More than ten years after the beginning of the war, Afghanistan faces external pressure to reform as well as ongoing internal conflicts.
"We all laugh about how no one really cares," he said. "All the 'support the troops' stuff is bumper sticker deep."
Top US general's aircraft hit by rocket-fire in Afghanistan
Farwell, 29, who is now studying at the University of Virginia, said the war is rarely a topic of conversation on campus — and he isn't surprised that it's not discussed much on the campaign trail.
"No one understands how to extricate ourselves from the mess we have made there," he said. "So from a purely political point of view, I wouldn't be talking about it if I were Barack Obama or Mitt Romney either."
Ignoring the Afghan war, though, doesn't make it go away.
According to the defense department's latest tally (updated on August 21, 2012 at 10 a.m. ET), 1,972 Americans have died in Afghanistan since President George W. Bush launched attacks there in October 2001 to rout al-Qaida.
The terrorist group used Afghanistan to train recruits and plot the Sept. 11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 Americans.
If casualties in other countries are included, the number of Americans killed since the start of the war is 2,091.
According to an analysis of U.S. forces killed in the war by The New York Times, three out of four who died were white, nine out of 10 were enlisted service members and the average age of those who died was 26. Half of the deaths were in Afghanistan's Kandahar or Helmand provinces — in the country's Taliban-dominated south, the Times reported.
The war drags on even though al-Qaida has been largely driven out of Afghanistan and its charismatic leader Osama bin Laden is dead — slain in a U.S. raid on his Pakistani hideout last year.
Strangely, Afghanistan never seemed to grab the same degree of public and media attention as the war in Iraq, which Obama opposed as a "war of choice."
Unlike Iraq, victory in Afghanistan seemed to come quickly. Kabul fell within weeks of the U.S. invasion in October 2001. The hardline Taliban regime was toppled with few U.S. casualties.
But the Bush administration's shift toward war with Iraq left the Western powers without enough resources on the ground, so by 2006 the Taliban had regrouped into a serious military threat.
Get an intimate view of the lives of infantry soldiers with the 10th Mountain Division, as they encounter danger and then have down time in Logar Province, Afghanistan.
Candidate Obama promised to refocus America's resources on Afghanistan. But by the time President Obama sent 33,000 more troops to Afghanistan in December 2009 in a policy known as the "surge", years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan had drained Western resources and sapped resolve to build a viable Afghan state.
Army casualties during the surge were heaviest at Fort Campbell in Kentucky (home to the 101st Airborne Division) and Fort Drum in New York (home to the 10th Mountain division), according to the Times' analysis of deaths. Units at both bases were frequently deployed to Afghanistan during the surge, the Times reported.
Panetta intervenes after 10th US service member killed in 2 weeks in Afghanistan
Over time, Obama's administration has grown weary of trying to tackle Afghanistan's seemingly intractable problems of poverty and corruption. The American people have grown weary too.
While most Americans are sympathetic to the plight of the Afghan people, they have become deeply skeptical of President Hamid Karzai's willingness to tackle corruption and political patronage and the coalition's chances of "budging a medieval society" into the modern world, says Ann Marlowe, a visiting fellow at the Hudson Institute, a policy research organization in Washington.
"With millions of veterans home and talking with their families and friends ... some knowledge of just how hard this is has percolated down," said Marlowe, who has traveled to Afghanistan many times.
The Pentagon issues new guidelines to U.S. troops in Afghanistan following a deadly week. NBC's Atia Abawi reports.
It has also been hard to show progress on the battlefield.
World War II had its Normandy, Vietnam its Tet Offensive and Iraq its Battle of Fallujah. Afghanistan is a grinding slough in villages and remote valleys where success is measured in increments.
The Afghan war transformed into a series of small, often vicious and intense fights scattered across a country almost as large as Texas.
What's leading Afghan troops to turn on coalition forces?
In July, 40 U.S. service members died in Afghanistan in the deadliest month for American troops so far this year. At least 31 have been killed this month — seven when a helicopter crashed during a firefight with insurgents in what was one of the deadliest air disasters of the war. Ten others were gunned down in attacks from members of the Afghan security forces — either disgruntled turncoats or Taliban infiltrators.
Many argue that bin Laden's death justifies a quick U.S. exit from Afghanistan. Others say it's important to stay longer to shore up the Afghan security forces and help build the government so that it can stand on its own. An unstable Afghanistan could again offer sanctuary to militants like al-Qaida who want to harm American and its allies, they say.
"Those of us who have been at this for a long time continue to think that it's important, and that we have a chance now of a path forward with a long-term perspective that will produce the results," said James Cunningham, the new U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan.
US forces in Afghanistan ordered to keep weapons loaded at all times
The U.S.-led coalition's combat mission will wind down in the next few years, leading up to the end of 2014 when most international troops will have left or moved into support roles.
Military analysts say the U.S. envisions a post-2014 force of perhaps 20,000 to hunt terrorists, train the Afghan forces and keep an eye on neighboring Iran and other regional powerhouse nations.
Americans aren't likely to know the number until later this year. But will anyone other than families of service personnel take note?
As NBC's Jim Miklaszewski reports, US military officials are investigating whether or not the Taliban was in fact involved in deadly Black Hawk helicopter crash that claimed the lives of seven US soldiers and four Afghan troops.
"I have heard others say that the danger that their spouses or children are serving in is just simply not being cared about," said Fred Wellman, a 22-year Army veteran who did three tours in Iraq. "I think a lot of veterans feel it is just forgotten."
Political satirist Garry Trudeau captured the apathy about the war in a comic strip this year showing a U.S. servicewoman stationed in Afghanistan calling her brother back home.
After he complains that his children have the flu and how he's struggling to keep up with their hectic hockey schedule, he asks her where she's calling from. She tells him she's in Afghanistan.
"Oh, right, right ..." her brother replies. "Wait, we're still there?"
The Associated Press and NBC News staff contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
I agree with Real Army Wife and disagree with Viet Name Era Vet (no disrespect intended). If not forgotten, the war in Afghanistan is a back burner issue. No candidate speaks of the war and, certainly, neither offers a legitimate plan to get out. Instead, the war drags on with the less said the better.
We can blame President Bush for the war and we can blame President Obama for its continuation, but a goodly portion of the blame must rest with us, the American people. We did not question the half baked "reasons" why we needed to enter into Iraq and Afghanistan and accepted every argument for the invasions at face value. Did anyone really believe that Iraq, whose miltary had been devastated in the gulf war, posed a serious or significant threat to us? Why is it that we did not say to President Bush, "Whoa, not so fast" and why is it that we are not demanding of President Obama explanations as to why we continue to be in those countries.
We have demanded nothing in the way of accountability from our leaders in these wars. Hell, we haven't even been asked to pay for them. Instead, we have received tax cuts over the past 12 years and complain that we have to pay them.
Forgotten? Not by my family. We are acquainted with losses and they have affected our family forever.
But for many Americans it is forgotten or they really did not know from the start. Too busy following some Hollywood cretin or latest freak fad......much too important.
Still the war profiteers have not forgotten this cash cow call Afghanistan. Bush and now Obama are helping them get rich while NATO force die. I cannot believe the stupid reason that america needs to help train the Afghan army. What Bravo Sierra...........America trains an Airborne Ranger Infantryman in lest than a year and we have been training the Afghans for TEN years!
The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history." ~George Orwell
Forgotten by the Mainstain Media so that their Corporate Masters on Wall Street can continue to Milk Billions out of the American Tax Payers Pocket Books!
Think about it Folks....NBC Has had 20 Stories about Syria trying to get US into another UN Not War since the Last Story they Published about Our Troops in Afghanistan!
And yet the MSM quietly degrade the fact that 2000 American Men & Women have died in that Not War that they no longer bother to cover. I bet you NONE of the Corporate Media even have any News Teams left in Afghanistan!
Maybe the BBC but SURELY not NBC/FOX NEWS.....
"Now I will tell you the answer to my question. It is this. The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from the oligarchies of the past in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites. The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just around the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know what no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now you begin to understand me." ~George Orwell, 1984
America....Refuse To Re-Elect ANY Of Wall Streets NOT WAR Incumbents Be They Democrat Or Republican and for the Parrot Act & NDAA 2012.... Obama Gone to the Hague in 2013 for War Crimes & Crimes Against Humanity! And let US Toss Bush & Cheney in for a 3fer!
Here we complain about Al Quida and the militants and fighting the Taliban, but this country is known for our co belief that we are the controllers of what is to be allowed and what isn't to be that got us involved in Afghanistan way before anyone ever heard of Osama Bin Ladin. The CIA actually set up the training camps back in the 70's to teach these now militants how to fight when it was in our supposed interest, that being that we would not allow our still-then #1 enemy Russia to prevail in their invasion of Afghanistan. Once the Russians withdrew, we declared our victory as still being #1 big cheese and left too, with no real offer of help to the Afghans to help rebuild because there was nothing in it for us anymore. We, in essence, trained many of these people in the art of warfare way before Bush and others came into power. It is arrogance that often triggers our involvement in these wars, and it is the young men and woman who swear blind allegiance to our country who ultimately pay the price.
The "Forgotten War"... this is where I call home for the time being. I can tell you all that to the people out here with me haven't forgotten it. Total media coverage shouldn't be needed to keep reminding the US that it still has it's people in harms way. It falls on the individual person to care enough to seek out information on current events. This "Forgotten War" has evolved and is coming to a close. Less action equals less media.
Sat 9/1/12 The APATHY of the AMERICAN PEOPLE They simply Don't Give a S— — — !
ONLY Our Military & Their Families, Our Veterans & Their Families are Fighting this War.
The Rest of America is "At the Mall" & can't be bothered with the War in Afghanistan
Don't believe that is True ? Just bring up the subject of Afghanistan & witness How Fast Follow Americans will turn & Walk away. They will NOT Listen or Discuss the Issue of Afghanistan. It's NOT even included in Our National Debate. NoOne repeat NoOne is discussing Afghanistan. NOT Romney or Obama.
This is Oh So Very Familar to me being a DRAFTEE Drafted into the USArmy July 1969 but NoOne Gives a S— — — about that War either. "I ain't No Fortunate Son" CCR
Bring Them HOME ALIVE & WELL & SOON,VERY SOON
May GOD be with THEM & KEEP THEM SAFE
SPW in Alaska "Airborne"
Yup, no one gives a flying fudge, and much less for morons that enlist with the ignorant idea that they going to kick "some ass" for what?for who? you guys got in to that mess, now man up and deal with it
Hey bud. We do what we do because pussies like you wont. We have made our choice and stand by it. when the rain is made of enemy fire and every piece of trash could explode, that is where you will find my kind. We Stood in that rain, walked those streets, faced what you fear, and came out not unscathed, but are forever changed. My brothers are not angels and neither am I, we are MARINES!!
"Change we can believe in"......open wide
The loudest scream I don't hear is that of the war protesters who were so frenzied with their actions when the Commander in Chief had an R behind his title. Now that there is a D behind the title, the shrill wailing has ceased. Hmmmm? How sick is political hypocrisy as it relates to compassion and concern?