Afghan Troop Withdrawal Announced! Will it Mean Much?

Today President Barack Obama announced that the number of U.S. military personnel now operating in Afghanistan would be reduced by 10,000 with additional cuts which would eventually return troop levels to that of 2009. Even though former President George W. Bush vowed to bring to justice those involved in the attacks on September 11 by 2002 the war in Afghanistan was almost forgotten and the wrath of the Bush administration turned towards Iraq. During a memorable skit at a White House Correspondent’s dinner President Bush light of the fact that Osama Bin Laden the worlds most wanted terrorist hadn’t been captured or killed.

Being an afterthought didn’t help the situation on the ground there. Harmid Karzai the western backed candidate was elected taking office on 7 December 2004. Karzai’s government from this moment until the surge of troops ordered by President Obama controlled little of the country outside the major cities. Elected again in August 2009 his campaign was accused of rigging the election as the number of votes cast in his favor didn’t match the number of registered voters. It didn’t matter as western governments saw him as an ally in the war on terror. Karzai’s government is deeply unpopular in Afghanistan and corrupt with most of the foreign aid meant for the country at large has disappeared into the hands of the connected and the wealthy. .

What will the withdrawal of U.S. forces mean for Afghanistan and how will it affect overall security? Given recent reports that Afghan security forces weren’t up to the task of assuming the role played by the Americans a return to all-out war between the various factions seems almost certain. Further exacerbating the situation is that large majorities of Afghanistan’s population view western forces not as liberators but as just another occupying force.

Afghanistan is America’s longest war with little to show for all the time, money and personnel committed to that nation’s effort to rebuild a country and government devastated my several decades of war. Perhaps a lesson will be learned from all of this but don’t hold your breath.