Well, here we are over ten years later and one is still uncertain as to what has been accomplished in Afghanistan. Let’s look at a few facts:
• In 2013, $4.7 billion U.S. is being allocated for the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), an amount that the U.S. government can’t continue to expend.
• Questions about the ability of the ANSF to provide the necessary security against future Taliban attacks and incursions continue to surface.
• How many American troops will be permanently assigned there after 2014 is still up in the air, and to what effect?
• The State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) have to date never issued a remotely credible report on the progress and impact of the civilian surge or any aspect of the civil aid program.
• Amid complaints of corruption, support among the populace for President Hamid Karzai’s government continues to be weak.
• Beyond Kabul, Afghan warlords are still in control of much of the country, often financed by the ongoing drug trade and American contract monies.
• Support from other NATO countries for the so-called reconstruction phase in Afghanistan is luke warm.
• It appears that any real meaningful negotiations with the Taliban are not likely to happen any time real soon. Especially as the Taliban are patiently awaiting the withdrawal of foreign troops and the level of trust on both sides is extremely low.
• The Taliban are not viewed by locals in the same way as al-Qaeda was, al-Qaeda having all but disappeared from the landscape.
• The Taliban are securely entrenched in Pakistan where the authorities are unable and unwilling to deal with the insurgents.
Have there really been any significant changes within Afghan society over the past ten years? It would appear from recent evidence that the answer is a strong “no”. Recent interviews by journalists of the New York Times with dozens of Afghan youth paint a picture of a new generation bound to their society’s conservative ways; especially when it comes to women’s rights, one of the West’s single most important efforts in the country. Attempts to alter women’s roles in society remain controversial among the younger generation. In addition, many Aghans consider democracy a tool of the West. The vast majority of Afghans still rely on tribal justice, viewing the courts as little more than venues of extortion. There continues to be strong support for adherence to Shariah law in Afghanistan, much of which actually comes from tribal traditions. Afghanistan is still an ancient and poor country with tribal ways, always suspicious of western ways and culture.
What does all this mean? Afghanistan has become a continuous burden to the American taxpayer, a real sink hole. Obama and other western leaders had better get out while they can, and let the Afghans resolve their own issues and employ their own measures. Only then, can they realistically determine their future, whatever that might be. I don’t think that we can afford another ten years of the same.
FROLITICKS 
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