With the War in Afghanistan now the center of President Obama’s foreign policy attention, there is a growing frustration with where it is going. We have been fighting the war since 2001 which means that we are almost a month away from the eight year anniversary. We are still fighting. The United States is sending more soldiers there and there is an increased amount of speculation that the war is a failure and we should pull out immediately.
The war isn’t a failure, though. Granted, the war is very frustrating and has been dragging on for so many years, it is easy to simply call it a failure. I wrote back in January that the three step plan to defeating the Taliban included more troops, destroying the heroin fields, and having Pakistan help fight more. The United States has, since Obama assumed office, done all of those things. More troops were sent to Afghanistan. The poppy fields are being destroyed en masses and Pakistan apparently has committed to dealing with their Taliban problem.
Afghan soldiers stand at attention.
The fundamental issue in Afghanistan now, at least when referring to the war, isn’t the Taliban or al-Qaeda, but instead, it is Congress in Washington. They’re demanding results in the next eighteen months and the reason that’s impossible is that it requires time to make any lasting changes.
First and foremost, the United States needs to help continue training Afghan officers. We’ve been there for going on eight years and it takes upwards of ten years, minimum, to start seeing consistent officers. Without consistent officers, no Afghan army, regardless of size, is going to be able to fight. I’d take it a step further and do what we have done for so many other nations. Allow some of their officers to come to the United States and train at our military schools. I’m not talking a ton of them, but you can have a few come and train at West Point and that will develop some very good low level officers, the ones that will be leading the individual soldiers around.
Secondly, the United States needs to develop a method in which they can start training people in governmental posts. I’m not talking about the stereotypical, “This is how you be a good sovereign state of the United States.” I mean a legit training of government positions so that, when the United States does leave, the people don’t just revert back to their old ways. I would feel much happier about Afghanistan knowing that there was peace there.
Finally, NATO needs to come in and start building up the economy. I’ve read a lot since writing my article back in January and the primary issue with destroying the poppy is that there is nothing there to replace it. If the farmers have a choice of farming poppy or farming nothing, they’ll continue to grow the drug simply because it puts food on the table. If NATO can come in and help stabilize the area enough, foreign investment will start to flow in. Once that happens, Afghanistan will be known as a victory.
Train the officers so that they can pass their learning on to other officers. Train the government officials so that they can actually govern effectively. Finally, have NATO come in and help to, effectively, stabilize areas so that foreign investment can go in. As long as an area is safe, money will flow in. That is inevitable.
About Jacob Cohen Donnelly
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