No Boots On Ground?

Is the president right to bring troops home from Afghanistan?

President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that the U.S. will pull all troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11 of this year — the 20th anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks on this nation.

The president and his supporters say it’s time to draw America’s longest war to a conclusion.

“We cannot continue this cycle of extending or expanding our military presence in Afghanistan, hoping to create ideal conditions for the withdrawal and expecting a different result,” the president said in his announcement.

Critics say that, without U.S. troops in place, the Taliban is likely to regain total control of the country and the move could also lead to a resurgence of terrorist groups such as al-Qaida.

President Biden said other countries, including Pakistan, India, Turkey and Russia, have significant stakes in seeing a peaceful Afghanistan and will be asked to do more to ensure that peace but didn’t detail exactly what his expectations would be.

We want to know what you think? Is it time we brought our troops home from Afghanistan? Or is this basically a surrender that will this set the country on a course to Taliban rule?

Send your response (50 words maximum) to opinion@texarkanagazette.com by Wednesday, April 21. You can also mail your response to the Texarkana Gazette Friday Poll, at P.O. Box 621, Texarkana, TX 75504 or drop it off at our office, 101 E. Broad St., Texarkana, Ark. Be sure to include your name, address and phone number. We will print as many responses as we can in next Friday’s paper.

Last Week: Infrastructure?

Last week’s question was about President Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure proposal that would be paid for by higher taxes on corporations and the highest earning Americans. Do you support President’s Biden’s infrastructure proposal? Or are you against it?

From www.facebook.com/texarkanagazette

■ Tax the rich.

■ Investing in our country creates jobs and will act to end our decline that started under Reagan.

■ I’m for it!

■ I’m for every bit of it. Put a stopper on the overseas corporate tax avoidance havens (world leaders are working on that) and make the rich, individuals and corporations, pay their fair share.

■ It is outrageous that corporate tax rates are 21%!