It has been a couple of days since I discovered this thread. I've looked it over and read some of the linked stuff.
Based on what I see going on here in Afgh now, IMHO there probably was a missed opportunity due to a decision to shift focus to Iraq, but alll the gloom and doom about "abandoning" Afghanistan, or "failing to do meaningful reconstruction" or "not letting non-US forces do peacekeeping outside Kabul" etc., etc. are to a certain extent OBE.
Afghanistan is not the US main effort, but to suggest that it has been "abandoned" is nonsense. The US has a pretty healthy military presence here, which is regularly engaged in combat ops in the Pak frontier country and stabilization and security ops (SASO) all over hte place. That frontier area is the only area in which there is really still an identifiable ACF presence. The majority of the rest of the country, although not "secure" in a Bosnia sense is far from being dominated by ACF(although they have pockets, such as in the area of Kabul and up near Kunduz). The local warlords, for the most part, are sitting tight until after the Presidential Election. The US and the Afgh govt defused the Herat situation with almost no bloodshed.
The Paks are not sitting idle, either. Although one could argue for a certain Byzantine ambiguity in the attitudes of some of their security people, there is not much doubt that a Corps of 70,000 troops has deployed along their side of the frontier and is engaged in rooting out at least some of the ACF who traditionally were based there. Two Pak Army officers are here at CJTF76 as LOs.
As for reconstruction, the US operates 17 Provincial Reconstruction Teams all around the country from the Herat area around through the south and up into the eastern provinces. These are all well supplied with lots of funds and are engaged in various reconstruction projects. The CG of CJTF76 regularly flies off to attend the opening of a new road, new govt facility, etc. all over the country. UK, Germany, NZ, Netherlands and several other countries operate PRTs in the ISAF North AOO which covers most of the northern portion of the country. The Brits in particular are quite successful. It is a fallacy that ISAF is confined to Kabul.
It is also a fallacy that the US is trying to stop the spread of ISAF: they have recently demonstrated that they are interested in giving up ground to ISAF, not taking it back. The limitation on ISAF is not, IMHO the desire of the US to restrain NATO, but rather the unwillingness of Troop Contributing Nations (TCN) to cough up what is needed, and the uncertain political will behind the 37 nations involved.
Apart from the PRTs doing infrastructure reconstruction, the UN and other agencies are engaged in humanitarian work, while various NGOs and deminers like DDR and Halo Trust are busy all over. Kabul itself, although only one city, is insanely busy with economic activity: the streets are completly clogged with trucks, vans and buses, and all kinds of new businesses are being built, both in the city and in the surrounding area. The markets in the city are full of produce. The reconstruction business here is most definitely NOT being done "only by big US corporations": driving into Kabul I can count at least half a dozen heavy construction company yards, all apparently operated by locals.Brickyards have sprung up everywhere.
It is definitely not accurate to describe Afghanistan at this moment as a wasteland populated by people who can hardly wait to fight each other again. The general impression is that there is amongst most people desire for stability and peace, if only for selfish gain. The machinrey of government and security is being slowly rebuilt, not without serious problems some of them cultural in basis such as corruption and nepotism.
There is still danger, and the ACF are by no means defeated yet, nor have we probably yet seen the peak of their anti-election terror campaign, but there is nothing on a scale even remotely approaching Iraq's ordeal. Afghanistan will not become Mississauga overnight, nor even in a year, but there are strong indications that life is returning to normal. People who have been away from the country for a year or so have returned to comment in amazement on the changes. This is why it is important for the West to stay engaged here. Cheers.
