While the Obama administration had called for a reduction in forces to start in July (depending on conditions on the ground), there may be no real end in sight. Concerns continue because the United States has yet to bring stability to the country as the Taliban continues to mount a stiff insurgency by way of Pakistan. Although public support for the military mission was high in October 2001, a decade of warfare in both Afghanistan and Iraq, coupled with economic stagnation on the home front has eroded that support, according to a recent article run by the Council on Foreign Relations.
Ten Years of Afghan War
Reporting for the CFR, Jayshree Bajoria notes that the conflict has killed 1,800 U.S Troops and cost more than $400 billion, which amounts to what many military leaders and politicos like to call a lot of “blood and treasure.” Meanwhile the global economic downturn rolls on, the US unemployment rate hovers at 9% and lawmakers have failed to confront a $1.3 trillion annual budget deficit.
Despite the stagnation and growing pessimism, however, the US has made strides to repair damage done to Afghanistan by the Taliban rule and more than 30 years of warfare as there are more girls in school, better access to healthcare, a formal constitution in place, and nascent Afghan security forces that are said to be “improving.”
While the Taliban has been ousted and Al-Queda decimated, “a resilient insurgency persists” and the conflict may have created a “political economy benefiting insurgents, government officials, and their cronies” writes Mr. Bajoria. Meanwhile the Karzai government in Kabul has become “highly corrupt, and inspires little trust among the populace.”
U.S. Goals In Afghanistan
Notwithstanding the progress in the “global war on terror” the goals of America in its Afghan nation building endeavor remain murky as the mission has most recently shifted to attempts at reconciliation and negotiation with the Taliban, albeit talks have been hampered by numerous setbacks as the insurgency continues to make deadly strikes against US and Nato troops.
Most significant is the role that Pakistan has played in providing safe harbor to the Taliban and lingering elements of al-Queda since Osama bin Laden was killed. In fact, President Karzai suspended the talks after the assassination of the government's chief negotiator, which has been blamed on the Pakistan-based Haqqani security network – the inner sanctum of Pakistan’s intelligence agency.
The CFR piece also says that Bing West, a member of the Council and former Pentagon official argues that “the conflict has dragged on far too long to be considered a strategic success," but he also believes that preventing the reemergence of a safe haven for al-Qaeda can be prevented with twenty thousand U.S. soldiers in support of a “capable Afghan army.”
Of course, a capable Afghan army has still not emerged and will only spring from a broader coalition of Afghan factions and what Mr. Bejoria calls an “a regional framework that includes Pakistan.” In the meantime the fog of war continues to hover over the mission and may ultimately play a pivotal hand in the fate of Afghanistan.
Sources
-Jayshee Bajoria, Ten Years of Afghan War, the Council on Foreign Relations, Oct 7, 2011
Kyle Colona - Kyle Colona is a freelance writer from the New York area with an extensive background in legal and regulatory affairs.
