War in Afghanistan ongoing, yet overlooked on campaign trail
MADISON -- The war in Afghanistan is the country's longest war ever -- yet it is barely an issue in the ongoing presidential campaign. U.S. Senate candidate Nimrod Allen says he takes issue with that.
16 members of Wisconsin's Army National Guard were deployed on a mission to Afghanistan Monday, October 1st. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was there to see them off.
"Whatever you think about the politics of what's going on in Afghanistan, in the end we support our men and women in uniform," Gov. Walker said.
Other politicians are seemingly avoiding discussing the war in Afghanistan, as the presidential campaign trail has been dominated by economic issues.
During the U.S. Senate debate on Friday, September 28th, the candidates spent exactly two minutes and 43 seconds discussing the war.
"This nation-building mission is not the one that was authorized and it is now time for them to come home," Democratic Senate candidate Tammy Baldwin said.
"We should now get out of Afghanistan," Republican Senate candidate Tommy Thompson said.
This week marks the 11th anniversary of the war in Afghanistan -- making it the nation's longest-running armed conflict. Wisconsin soldiers are still fighting and dying in Afghanistan.
U.S. Senate candidate Nimrod Allen spend 10 years in the Marine Corps. and served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. He is running in the Senate race as an independent candidate against Thompson and Baldwin.
Allen says the war in Afghanistan deserves more attention.
"It's something that may not be a hot ticket issue or a hot button issue and it may not sell in local media and things like that, but it's something that needs to be discussed until it's resolved. We can't just tip toe around the issue or neglect that it's actually going on," Allen said.
Allen says he knows the importance of debt, but points out the issues are tied to the Afghanistan war.
"Seeing as how most of our debt came from that war, I mean, tell me now: what do you think? Honestly, what do you think? Do you think that's something we can just avoid talking about, spending $1, $2, $3 billion a day on a war that's been lasting over 10 years? While people here are hungry, starving, losing work, losing equity in their homes?" Allen said.
Combat operations in Iraq ended two years ago, but there are still 68,000 troops deployed in Afghanistan. 39 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed so far in the conflict.