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The War in Afghanistan was started in the year 2001, as the US military's Operation Enduring Freedom was launched in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US. The feature of the war was due to the struggle by the U.S. forces against the Al-Qaeda and its Taliban supporters and against some Afghans who opposes the occupation of the forces led by the U.S in Afghanistan. This war has lead to the killing of thousands of people where the majority is the civilians. This essay presents what we have done since we first invaded Afghanistan in 2001, what we are doing now, our plans for the reconstruction of Afghanistan, the changes from the Bush as compared to the current Obama administration, our political, economic, and military strategy in Afghanistan and finally the reasons why the afghan people needs us to quit their country.What we have done and what we are still doing in AfghanistanAmerica faces serious challenge in the outsourcing of military work serious as it is diverting funds from our military to hire some contractors to do the work. For instance, we are spending about $6 billion, and we have constantly shifted the responsibility of training the police forces from the U.S. Army to a different contractor DynCorp International and the European paramilitary police units called gendarmerie forces. This has led to failure in establishing a reliable Afghan police which in turn threatens our main goals in Afghanistan. Though we find that there exist a vast cultural difference between the rural Afghans who enlist in police training and the trainers who come from the Western nations, the failure of the police force goes beyond the training and the people who do it. This lack of clear mission shows our basic failure in war in Afghanistan. These contractors are not accountable to our government the same way the Army is. Furthermore, the Afghans see these troops as the Americans and forces of the American imperialism and it undermines the "winning of minds" mentality, and, challenges our moral grounds (Alexander Y. 2009).When the U.S. entered the war nearly a decade ago, our mission was to overthrow the Taliban that was supporting al-Qaeda, which was involved in the attacks on Sept. 11 and instead install a regime that is friendly to the U.S. and more especially search for and kill Osama bin Laden. Since then, we have managed to achieve one goal, that is overthrowing of the Taliban government but we have not fully dealt with its supporters. These Taliban supporters have instead become the anti-imperial Afghan freedom fighters and they enjoy much support from many Afghans an aspect which suggests that they had never been in power and that they represented the path towards the true freedom. This makes us wonder whether the Afghanis have forgotten the harsh Taliban rule or not. Afghan elections which were conducted last year were heartbreaking to us, because we saw that a country in which we had spent so much into was taking corruption to its highest level. All the presidential candidates involved claimed victory, and, President Karzai's challenger Abdullah Abdullah withdrew prior to the second round of elections. President Karzai became a victor, but the aspect of democracy failed. This failure in democracy implies that we should leave Afghanistan. Many people in Afghanistan have lost interest in the presidential elections in their country since they do not have any positive effect in Afghanistan. Also, Karzai and Abdullah are the America's puppets a fact which makes the Afghans to hate them (Belasco A. 2008).And most obviously, we have not caught bin Laden and we have not prevented the global terrorism. The war in Afghanistan has only encouraged the Muslim extremism. The Iran's resistance to the West has also added strength to this extremism (Belasco A. 2008).Our current President Obama announced that he was sending about 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan

 

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In the year 2001 we helped return to power the worst criminals, such as the Northern Alliance warlords and the drug lords. These men were supposed to be considered as same as the Taliban. The only difference is that the Northern Alliance warlords are wearing suits and they cover their faces masks of democracy while they occupy the top positions in the government. These people are actually responsible for the disasters in Afghanistan today. They enjoy these positions because of the support we are giving them.We as the Americans are offering power to the medieval Taliban by creating another category known as the moderate Taliban and calling them to join the government. Here, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the man who was among the most-wanted terrorists eight years ago is being called to join the government. Over the past eight years the U.S. we have turned Afghanistan into a drug capital of the world through our support to the drug lords. Today, about 90% of the opium in the entire world is produced in Afghanistan. Many members of the Afghanistan parliament are gaining many benefits from the drugs. To emphasize on this, President Karzai's own brother is a famous drug trafficker in Afghanistan and the president is getting much support from us (America). Meanwhile, ordinary Afghans are living under extreme poverty. The research shows that about 18 million Afghans live on less than three dollars a day to an extent that some people in Afghanistan sells their children because they are not able to feed them. Our country spends about $165 million a day on the war and yet Afghanistan remains in the grip of terrorists. Those who raise complains against injustice, insecurity and our occupation have their lives threatened and are killed or sometimes forced to leave Afghanistan. (Congressional Record. 2010)Now our current President Barrack Obama is considering the increment of troops to Afghanistan and he is trying to extend the former President Bush's policies of which some are very wrong. This is because the worst massacres since 9/11 have happened during Obama's tenure. The Farah province was bombed by the U.S. this past May and about hundred and fifty people were killed where most of them were women and young children. Also no Sept. 9, our government bombed the Kunduz Province leading to the death of 200 civilians (Belasco A. 2008).

Our plans for the reconstruction of AfghanistanAfghanistan's reconstruction plans includes any major contract, agreement, or any other funding mechanism entered into by any department or agency of the American government that involves the use of the amounts appropriated, or otherwise made available for the reconstruction of Afghanistan with any entity to;i. Build or rebuild physical the infrastructures in Afghanistan.ii. Establish or reestablish the political or societal institutions of Afghanistan.iii. Provide the products or the services to the people of Afghanistan.iv. Provide security or other support functions to enhance the reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan.For instance, our Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) which has its offices in Washington, D.C. and in the U.S. Embassy in Kabul has plans to enhance the reconstruction of Afghanistan. SIGAR plans to work towards improving the management and accountability over U.S. funds administered by U.S. and Afghan agencies and their contractors, preventing fraud, waste, and abuse by identifying weak internal controls and investigating potential corruption and other wrongdoing, providing a mechanism by which the complaints and issues can be reported in Afghanistan and in the United States, and improving the effectiveness of the overall reconstruction strategy and its various component programs.The changes from the Bush as compared to the current Obama administrationThe level of troops differs in the Obama and Bush administrations. In the rising violence General Mc. Kienan the overall US commander in NATO commander in Afghanistan, requested for the brigade combat teams and an aviation support union, or about 40000 more troops in October 2008. In December 2008 and January 2009, the DOD announced the deployment of about 15000 of the troops requested by Mc Kienan. At the end point of Bush administration, 47000 troops were supposed to be deployed in Afghanistan by the start of 2009. In March 2009, the Obama Administration announced a plan of deploying additional 21000 troops to Afghanistan including the combat teams (Congressional Record. 2010)Our strategy in AfghanistanThe administration of Washington puts into consideration the various aspects of the policies regarding Afghanistan. Regarding some settlement in Afghanistan the administration says that training the national army and improving the national police can be a good strategy that America is working on. The problems relating to corruption are also the key issues of the same strategy. There is also emphasis on agriculture as Afghanistan is a rural country. They are beginning a process of determining the level of casualties and violence along with dealing with suicide bombing in Afghanistan. Other areas of concern include the Afghan national security forces, improvement in the economic condition and the capacity building of Afghan forces. The US is focusing on accelerating growth and maintaining quality for army and police by the year 2011. In this way, the American government is able to leave Afghanistan to deal with its own problems, more especially the ones related to security. Upon resuming office in 2009, President Obama announced that he was evaluating the U.S. strategy towards Afghanistan and Pakistan and he later announced that the additional U.S. troops would be sent to strengthen the U.S. military efforts in Afghanistan (Congressional Record. 2010)Reasons why the afghan people do not need us in their countryThe Afghan people are capable of establishing their own democratic future. Progressive democratic parties in Afghanistan are fighting hard to reconstruct the peace and safety of their country. Despite the repression from the U.S.-supported Karzai government, many of the brave students and women have come to the streets of Kabul to protest against the bombings and the continued war. From these forces, a larger movement will emerge that could play a role in establishing and developing democracy to Afghanistan. If the U.S. continues the occupation in Afghanistan, the space for progressive forces will be limited (Belasco A. 2008).This is the right time for us to stop being so complacent and accepting of our noble mission in Afghanistan. We must therefore realize that we are fighting a war against the people far away, and we are not winning the war. It is also an appropriate time to for the Columbians increase their efforts in urging our government to bring our troops back home.