Withdrawing US Troops from Afghanistan - Research Paper Example

?Operation Enduring Freedom started way back in 2001, various targets have been achieved, many important Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders including Osamabin Laden have been killed and captured and a remarkable progress have been made in strengthening the Afghani government and security agencies but the costs of the war have been gigantic and amount to almost $350 billion with $7 billion dollars being spent monthly. After the sending the additional 30,000 troops last year, currently we have around one hundred thousand troops in Afghanistan and the progress achieved by them is being considered as substantial but ‘fragile and reversible’ by the Pentagon. President Obama has given signs of pulling back a considerable number of troops this year and the rest of the troops by 2014. The American people are very much concerned about the war in Afghanistan because of the large cost of war and economic destabilization, the deaths of a considerably large number of American soldiers in Afghanistan, and the exact number was never told to us and also the deteriorating image of the US as a country and Americans as a nation in the global scenario because of the killings of innocent civilians during various operations and strikes against the terrorists. But the most important of all the questions is ‘what exactly is our target and mission over there?’, ‘is there actually any way of winning the war?’ and ‘how exactly do we define a win in Afghanistan, in those conditions?’ So the government, the security agencies and the think tanks should first define the goals in Afghanistan and whether it is feasible to achieve those goals under present circumstances without any further damage to the economy and the country’s image. The definition of win should incorporate a number of factors in itself and a win should be a condition in which: a. The top leadership of Al Qaeda including Osama bin Laden and Aimen al-Zawahiri is either killed or captured ensuring that Al Qaeda is no longer stable enough to conduct such deadly attacks and terrorist activities again b. The threat of Taliban and other tribal terrorist organizations in Afghanistan as well as Pakistan is eradicated to an extent that it will not rise again and become a threat to the global peace and security c. The institutional setup, the government, the infrastructure, the police and other security agencies in Afghanistan are strong enough to ensure sustainable stability in the country which can ensure provision of basic services to the people of the country and can defend the country against all kinds of internal and external threats without any foreign involvement or assistance. Whenever we talk about pulling our troops from Afghanistan we start analyzing the situation by considering goals and targets of the war but then we realize the fact that the governmental institutions and the authorities have not clearly defined the goals of the war and we have noticed them to shift a little from time to time with regards to our mission in Afghanistan. Recently President Obama issued a statement in which he clearly established that our goal in Afghanistan ‘is to reverse the momentum of Taliban’ and he did not mention anything about Al Qaeda or its leaders. Considering President Obama’s statement as the goal of Afghanistan war and considering it a win, an analysis should be done whether we have achieved that win or not or whether it is possible to effectively achieve that win in the first place (Tystad). Considering the fact that some of the regions in Afghanistan including a large portion of Qandahar are being controlled by Taliban, we cannot consider our mission in Afghanistan a win and in fact completely eliminating the threat of Taliban in that region is also not possible because of a number of factors which are related to the government in Afghanistan and the security agencies in Pakistan. Some of the members in the current Afghani cabinet and some tribal chiefs have shown distrust towards the American forces and are not cooperating with them and have effectively sided with Taliban in various recent incidents so this shows that eliminating the Taliban and neutralizing their ability to conduct attacks and terrorist activities is not possible without the support of Afghani government, Afghani tribal lords and Afghani people. Most of the Taliban and their training camps are stationed in the mountainous border between Afghanistan and Pakistan and the situation in Pakistan is not very encouraging and supportive as revealed by the fact that Osama bin Laden was present in Pakistan at a very little distance from the capital city of Islamabad for the last five years, and whether it was with or without the knowledge and consent of the Pakistani administration and security agencies is a debatable issue (Wolny). Tracing the history of Taliban we come across very important facts; because Taliban were actually recruited and trained by the American and other Western coalition partners to fight against the Soviet Union expansion. This recruitment and training was conducted in Pakistan and the training camps and the recruitment facilities remained established even after the end of the expeditions against the Soviet Union. During all this the authorities in the Pakistani security and military agencies established strong ties with the Taliban and started using them as a weapon against neighboring India at various stages, mainly in the northern region of Kashmir where Pakistan is known to have sent insurgents to fight against the Indian army and support the freedom fighters in Kashmir, this has actually increased the importance of Taliban for the security agencies of Pakistan and therefore they are not willing to eliminate and disarm the Taliban completely and the Taliban fighters are still being recruited and trained in the tribal areas of Pakistan along the Afghani border. Under such circumstance in which an ally whose support is of key importance for achieving the goals of the war is not willing to eliminate the Taliban, a win does not seem to be possible (Miller, Vandome and McBrewster). The costs of the war in Afghanistan are approaching $350 billion and the monthly expenditure of the war is about $7 billion dollar per month and although we have achieved a success in the form of the killing of Osama bin Laden, the supreme commander of Al Qaeda we cannot consider it as a reason of prolonging our stay in Afghanistan because our mission of reversing the momentum of Taliban in Afghanistan as stated by the President Obama is apparently not possible to achieve. Nearly 1350 US soldiers have died and more than 7000 have suffered serious war injuries during these years according to the figures issued by the authorities but the question still remains unanswered have we effectively achieved our goals or are we going to achieve them in near future or not (Ripley). Another major concern is the strategy and policy of Afghan government towards the Taliban because the Afghan President Karzai has shown his distrust about our level of commitment in Afghanistan and on the other hand he has openly made offers to the ‘moderate’ Taliban to join forces with the Afghan government. Under such circumstances it is actually not possible to end the threat of Taliban completely because achieving the desired goals against Taliban is highly dependent on the support of Afghani government and Pakistani civil and military administration (Mcshane). The Afghan President Karzai despite his open denunciation of the NATO and the US war tactics and commitment level, has also shown his concern about the reports of US troops being pulled out of Afghanistan very quickly and has repeatedly maintained that the in order to achieve strength and stability in Afghani government and military institutions, they want the US and coalition forces to stay in Afghanistan. Therefore before arriving at a final decision about pulling the troops back from Afghanistan a wide range of factors are to be considered. The current strength of the Afghani forces is not good enough to hold back Taliban as depicted by the circumstances that followed the handover control of some regions in Nuristan and Kunar provinces in Eastern Afghanistan to the Afghani forces. Strengthening the Afghani security forces is very important before leaving Afghanistan and is certainly an integral part of the exit strategy. The security forces in Afghanistan and in fact in Pakistan as well are not good strong enough to hold back Taliban and thus the troops cannot be pulled back immediately. Pulling out troops now would mean handing over a major portion of Afghanistan to Taliban, which we certainly do not want to happen (Hanlon and Riedel). Now considering the first clause, the elimination of Al Qaeda, of the goal of the Afghan War as established at the start of the essay, things are much better. The recent killing of Osama bin Laden can be considered as a big step forward towards achieving this goal but the fact that the other important leaders of Al Qaeda are not captured and killed remains as it is. And Osama bin Laden was also killed in Pakistan not in Afghanistan that means for the elimination of Al Qaeda, Afghanistan is not of that importance as it was in the past because the Al Qaeda leadership can be considered to be moved to other countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Central Asian Muslim states or to some of the Arab countries (Hamilton). But the movement of Al Qaeda leadership to other countries took place because of the presence of the US forces in Afghanistan and if the troops are pulled out, a destabilized and weak Afghanistan can again become a safe haven for the terrorist organizations. Now here comes the role of our Department of State that it should put pressure on the leaders and governments of the countries where Al Qaeda leadership is present to start operations against Al Qaeda and to capture and kill the leadership in order to dismantle Al Qaeda for good. But this is not as simple as it apparently looks to be because states like Pakistan where the civil and military leadership is corrupt and inefficient cannot carry out these tasks on their own and we will have to take things in our own hands and conduct operations as we did in Abottabad in Pakistan for killing Osama bin Laden but doing so again will spark off criticism from the international community. Moreover most of these countries to which Al Qaeda leadership has moved to and is currently stationed are not strong enough economically and militarily to conduct such operations to remove Al Qaeda and often lack the appropriate intelligence. Therefore they will demand the US to support them economically and strategically in order to carry out these operations. The cost of these plans will certainly put a large burden on our economy. The recent attacks conducted by the Taliban and Al Qaeda in reply to the killing of Osama bin Laden on Pakistani military bases is an example of the incompetency of the government and military authorities and the strength of Al Qaeda in those countries (Geller, Spencer and Bolon). So we can summarize that achieving the target of wiping out and dismantling Al Qaeda is certainly related to the presence of our troops in Afghanistan but it is also highly dependent on the role played by the neighboring states of Afghanistan and some other Muslim states as well. Certainly there are signs of betterment of economy despite the dominance of opium on the economy and the corruption and insecurity. Afghanistan is still very far away from achieving independence in agriculture and self sufficiency in feeding its people but the conditions of health care and education have improved considerably and the economy is strengthening as marked by a 10% growth in GDP per year. Currently more than 7 million Afghan children are registered in schools and are getting education, a number which is much larger as compared to 1 million during the Taliban rule (Hanlon and Riedel). According to Mcshane stability of government and military institutions in Afghanistan can be achieved with time because things seem to move in the right direction so pulling out troops right now does not seem to be a right idea. The most encouraging fact is the support of Afghan people as they want the American troops to stay until the security threats are removed altogether because things are very different now for the general Afghani population. They are now getting medical and educational facilities and are actually moving towards a brighter future. At this point the Afghan politicians and governmental authorities should play a role in creating awareness among the people about the benefits of democracy and also about the role played by the US and western forces in providing educational and medical facilities (Applebaum). This is very important, because the Afghan population must know the benefits they will get if they will support their government and not Taliban because when the US troops will leave Afghanistan the people of Afghanistan will have to strengthen their government and security agencies by supporting their government against Taliban. Now there are two strategies to be considered for pulling out the troops from Afghanistan; first is a pullback according to the current schedule i.e. by 2014 and the second strategy is an accelerated pull back in which all the troops will be pulled back by 2012. The pros and cons of both the strategies are discussed in the following paragraphs. The advantages and the disadvantages of the first plan, sticking to the current strategy of delayed exit are: 1. Delaying the exit will provide us with the more time to strengthen the infrastructure, government institutions and security agencies so as to make Afghanistan self sustainable and self sufficient in ensuring national security and supporting its economy. 2. A slow and gradual pull out will allow us to monitor the situation in various areas of the country where forces will be pulled out and control is handed over to Afghani authorities. 3. This will also help in making the borders more strong in order to stop Al Qaeda leadership which has moved to other neighboring countries and will allow US forces to conduct more operations with the cooperation of neighboring for killing other Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders to ensure sustainable peace and security. 4. Ensuring a sustainable peace and security means achieving a complete and honorable win in Afghanistan and no threats of terrorist activities in future. The main pros and cons of the second option, an accelerated exit, are as follows: 1. The first and the most important advantage of an accelerated withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan is the money that can be saved which is currently being spent in Afghanistan and thus we can lower down the budget deficit which is currently at record high levels, moreover we require funding and finances for various domestic needs most notable of which is the social security programs which are estimated to require more than 75% of the GDP by 2030 if the economic growth rates are not improved. 2. 18 months is a sufficient time period for appropriate training of the Afghan forces and security agencies. 3. The troops are currently needed in various rehabilitation and reconstruction activities being carried out in flood and tornado stricken parts of the country. 4. We cannot consider Afghanistan and Pakistan as our allies because of the statements issued by the leadership of the countries and the recent developments including the presence of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan at a place which is just 3 miles away from the largest military academy in Pakistan and 60 miles from the national capital. And without the support of the Pakistani and Afghani governments the goals of war cannot be achieved in any way even if we stay for another 10 years in Afghanistan. Considering the pros and cons of the two strategies possible for the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, I would recommend the first approach to be followed i.e. a delayed exit because it is the only way in which we can win the war in Afghanistan according to the 3 criteria of winning the war set at the start of the essay. Delaying the exit to 2014 and a gradual decrease in the number of forces in Afghanistan will give us sufficient time to finish the job effectively by: 1. Ensuring peace and stability in Afghanistan after our exit through strong Afghani governmental setup and security forces. 2. Utilizing the extra time in searching for other Al Qaeda leadership in the neighboring countries which will allow us to conduct operations against them in order to capture them with the collaboration and cooperation of the country in which the terrorists are found. 3. Creating awareness about the Taliban among the general public in Afghanistan and the tribal areas of Pakistan where the Taliban are stationed so that Taliban cannot get the support of the local population ever in future. This is the only sustainable strategy for ensuring global peace and security and also for the good of Afghani as well as the American people. Works Cited Applebaum, Anne. "Campaigning for Afghanistan." washingtonpost.com. The Washington Post, 9 July 2009. Web. 11 June 2011. . Cordesman, Anthony, Adam Mausner, and David Kasten. Winning in Afghanistan: creating effective Afghan security forces. N.p.: CSIS, 2009. Print. Geller, Pamela, Robert Spencer, and John Bolton. The Post-American Presidency: the Obama administration's war on America. N.p.: Simon and Schuster, 2010. Print. Hamilton, John. Operation Enduring Freedom. N.p.: ABDO & Daughters, 2002. Print. Hanlon, Michael, and Bruce Riedel. "What's Right With Afghanistan." Brookings. N.p., 2 Sept. 2009. Web. 11 June 2011. . Mcshane, Roger. "The Economist Debates: Afghanistan." The Economist. The Economist, 17 May 2010. Web. 11 June 2011. . Miller, Frederic, Agnes Vandome, and John McBrewster. Operation Enduring Freedom. N.p.: Alphascript Publishing, 2009. Print. Ripley, Tim. Operation Enduring Freedom. N.p.: Pen & Sword Books Limited, 2011. Print. Tystad, Valerie. Operation Enduring Freedom: tactics, techniques and procedures. N.p.: Combined Arms Center, 2008. Print. Wolny, Phillip. American Troops in Afghanistan: building a new nation. N.p.: Rosen Publishing Group, 2005. Print. Read More