Letter: Reasons for staying in Afghanistan

Sunday, Dec. 18, 2005 | 7:47 a.m.

Regarding Joseph Carbone's Dec. 11 letter, "Have we forgotten about Afghanistan?" I offer three suggestions as to why American troops are still in Afghanistan. Carbone alluded to them, and asked some good questions, but here are some possible answers -- first, Osama; second, bin; and third, Laden.

Osama bin Laden was linked directly to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. President Bush declared a war on terror, and on bin Laden. Our government has been hunting him down for years, and so naturally the president and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld have not provided any details on the operations or progress reports.

He and other leaders of al-Qaida and Islamic Jihad are always watching and listening to us -- if Osama is still alive, that is.

One terrorist network aired some statements from him last week and subsequently admitted that they were from a speech he gave back in September. We actually haven't heard anything new from bin Laden in a while. Not since Oct. 8, when a 7.6 magnitude earthquake hit Pakistan and neighboring countries.

Clorinda Fontano

North Las Vegas