Afghanistan Drawdown

As the US draws back its combat forces from Afghanistan, what will they leave behind?


By 2014, in line with a pledge made by President Barack Obama, the US aims to have withdrawn all its combat troops from Afghanistan.

Indeed, quietly and unobtrusively, that process has already begun. As units come to the end of their tour of duty they are not being replaced, military hardware is being packed into containers and trucks ready for the long trip home and responsibility for the country’s security is gradually being handed over to units of the Afghan army and police.

For more than a decade now, the US and its allies have been spending a fortune in blood and treasure on Operation Enduring Freedom, but what, if anything, have they actually achieved? And perhaps more importantly, what sort of Afghanistan will the US forces bequeath to their Afghan counterparts when they finally leave?