Political Science

The continued stay of U.S. troops in Afghanistan is quite crucial in overseeing the realization of political stability in that nation. Over the past eight years, the U.S. led military operation in Afghanistan has seen the effective disruption of the al-Qaeda terrorism group as well as the Taliban insurgents (Gilmore, 2006). However, the war in Afghanistan is far from over. The foreseeable realization of political stability lies on the establishment of a strong and reliable local security force in Afghanistan, a task which might take much time than speculated (Valceanu, 2005). This essay gives two varied opinions on the continued U.S. presence in Afghanistan. A discussion of the accomplishments of U.S. in Afghanistan as well as the possible length of time that the US troops will stay in Afghanistan is also given.

First are opinions on continued U.S. presence in Afghanistan. The U.S. presence in Afghanistan has served much in overseeing the transformation of the nation into a stable member of the global community. According to available information on the progress, the number of Taliban and al-Qaeda insurgents has substantially decreased over the past few years (Gilmore, 2006). Still, many insurgents have come in terms with the need to resolve conflicts in a peaceful manner. This is indeed evident from the ever increasing collaboration witnessed between the U.S. troops and the local police in combating insurgency. Moreover, with the current heavy investment into the reconstruction of the Afghanistan, US presence is clearly instrumental in realizing social, political and economic stability of afghan. By training of an afghan security forces, US troops serve to oversee a lasting solution to insecurity for the new afghan government (Gilmore, 2006). Their heavy investment into infrastructural reconstruction activities seeks to restore Afghanistans economy a crucial factor is achieving sustainable peace in any nation.

However, the continued U.S. troops stay in Afghanistan has a negative impact on to the American economy. This is because it is costing the federal government billions of U.S. dollars, an investment which does not match the evident achievements (CNN, 2009). Critics of the U.S. presence in Afghanistan have it right that the war on terrorism has never realized measurable success. According to existing evidence, the U.S. is indeed more prone to terrorist attacks than ever before (CNN, 2009). This is because its operations have been countered by terrorist group strategy of decentralization of operations and disappearance of institutional leadership thus making them harder to identify and destroy. This means that America has to keep expecting a terrorist attack. Any security relaxing will serve as a revenge opportunity by the Taliban and al-Qaeda insurgents.

Second is a discussion on the accomplishment by the U.S. troops in afghan. Of the many accomplishments by the US troops in Afghanistan are the invasion of the Taliban government in 2002 and the subsequent combating of insurgents (Valceanu, 2005). Just to be stated is that the Taliban regime housed the al-Qaeda group a major threat to the world security. Therefore, by disrupting the institutional organization of both Taliban and al-Qaeda, the US government has achieved much in the war against terrorism. Another accomplishment is the creation of anew democratic government in Afghanistan (Valceanu, 2005). With their military support, the US government has seen the establishment of human friendly governance in this nation. This has been further been strengthen by the good relations that the local enjoy with the US troops such as security partnership.

Another accomplishment is the reconstruction process of Afghanistan (Gilmore, 2006). The past few years have received much critic on the U.S. ignorance of victims of the afghan war. However, nowadays, the U.S. government has gotten more engaged in humanitarian aid. Still, infrastructure reconstruction of Afghanistan is a major involvement of the U.S. troops in partnership with other nations and non-governmental organization (Valceanu, 2005). Such infrastructural reconstructions have also led to increasing success of the provisional reconstruction process. This is because it establishes through collaboration among local governors and police infrastructures at district level, an element which increases the potential unification of the nation under one stable leadership.

Third is a discussion on the claim that U.S. troops in Afghanistan will not stay for long. According to available information, the frequency of military confrontations in Afghanistan has substantially decreased. Still, there has been evident growth of coordination by the new Afghanistan government in dealing with governance and security issues of the nation (Gilmore, 2006). This is a strong indicator that civil conflict will be established soon in Afghanistan thus forcing US troops to leave. Another reason is the fact that NATO is currently taking over security, governance and reconstruction operations in Afghanistan. Indeed, NATO controls the northern and western regions of Afghanistan (Valceanu, 2005). This means that US troops are only in the eastern region. Therefore, with potential overall operations takeover by NATO, US troops will fall back.

In conclusion, the presence of US troops has increased possibility of realizing stable governance in Afghanistan. Their military operations led to the invasion of the Taliban and al-Qaeda regimes. However, the war in Afghanistan has been a major economic risk for the US. It is due to this reason why there are plans to remove US troops from Afghanistan by 2011.