The war in Afghanistan is in the news every day, especially since Gen. McChrystal, top commander of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, requested President Obama to send more troops to beef up current forces in the region.

On Nov. 9, it was reported that Obama had finally made the decision to send more troops to Afghanistan, but it was quickly renounced later in the day by National Security Advisor James Jones, who stated:

“Reports that President Obama has made a decision about Afghanistan are absolutely false. He has not received final options for his consideration, he has not reviewed those options with his national security team, and he has not made any decisions about resources. Any reports to the contrary are completely untrue and come from uninformed sources.”

While President Obama deliberates, and the latest estimate of when he will make a decision is late November, our current troops face the risks of war- injury and death. And the death tolls in Afghanistan are increasing daily.

The war has been waging more or less for seven years, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to stop anytime soon. President Obama is delaying his decision to send more troops to help end the war and has said that he plans on ending the war in the summer of 2010. But who is to say that this promise will be kept? One of the reasons many Americans voted for Obama is because of his promise to end the war as soon as he could. Well then, why is he delaying making a decision, and pushing the supposed new end date another year?

Some might say that seven years is no big deal, and that one more year isn’t that much longer to wait. But ask them if they have a loved one fighting in the Middle East. Ask them if they are putting their life on the line everyday somewhere in the desert? Ask them if one day could make a difference in their life, or in the lives of their loved ones?

Some believe the war is becoming pointless, that it was supposed to deliver a message that terrorism would not be tolerated after 9/11, but since Osama bin Laden escaped and the Taliban is now an insurgency group, they argue that Afghanistan may become another Vietnam.

According to Time Magazine writer Joe Klein, “The war in Afghanistan — the war that President-elect Barack Obama pledged to fight and win — has become an aimless absurdity.”

It’s so easy to put the war into the back of our minds and see it as some necessary annoyance that we wish could be over. But what we must do is put ourselves in the shoes of those on the front lines, and then as we see through their eyes– the possibilities of death– coming home one extra day early could mean the difference between life and death.

We cannot wait any longer. No more stalling from our president should be accepted. Human life is not something that can be taken lightly. According to antiwar.com, over 200 soldiers have already died in Afghanistan, and that is only counting those who died in combat.

This is an outrage, for the president to negligently procrastinate making a commitment to our troops to give them the support and direction they need to carry out their duty of protecting and defending our nation. If we don’t make necessary and wise decisions and commitments to carry out those policies, we put not only our troops in harm’s way, but the innocent citizens of Afghanistan and potentially our own country as well.