The Obama administration plays great role in the fight against terrorism but that is hard and complicated to read. Indeed, it makes no sense to the people on the ground. Mr. Obama in 2009 declared that the Taliban and Haqqani Network have had great gains in the country and that it needs a proper response by increasing the numbers of forces. Soon after in 2010, the numbers of troops increased from 34,000, when he took the office to nearly 100,000 in 2010 to defeat the Taliban and Haqqani Network who spoiled the gains and achievements being acquired by the United States. At the same time, US made an operation from the south to east and made sensible gains in the fight against Taliban and Haqqani Network.
In the same way, in June 2011, Obama promulgated that 32,000 surge troops would come home by September 2012, and earlier than General David H. Petraeus and his superiors considered it a sensible initiative to get out of Afghanistan. Right from then, few weeks back, the Defence Secretary, Leon Panetta, leaked out that by next year, the US forces would start transition from combat to advisory effort. But the recent incidents in the country spoiled all the planning and that it really upsetting the Karzia administration and the people of Afghanistan at large. As a result, Karzia asked the Obama administration to start withdrawing even earlier by 2013, before the scheduled time of the withdrawal which was by 2014.
According to reports, Mr. Obama is also getting disappointed with the ongoing messes inside the Karzia's government, because all their efforts in the fight against terrorism and the struggle for stabilizing the country seem not to be working as it was expected due to Mr. Karazai's inability. The ongoing corruption inside the Karzia government further ruined the hopes of Afghan people and Obama administration. According to reports, Mr. Obama is to announce a further drawdown of US forces, possibly at a NATO summit in Chicago in May and that fewer than 10,000 troops will remain in the country beyond 2014. This indicates that the world is giving up on Afghanistan because of no integrated framework within the Karzai's administration. And this is to grow Afghanistan in bloodshed and a civil war after their withdrawal once again.
Reading the ground realities, now it appears that the U.S. launched war on terror in Afghanistan will remain unfulfilled and the country once again may fall in the hands of the Taliban as the Afghan security forces are not able to follow their footprint and the corruption is on its highest peak. Despite, the NATO training mission in Afghanistan has been going on since 2009, yet there doesn't seem a considerable progress on the ground. There is still a question in everyone's mind that what happens to the future of these people after the US withdraws from the country, since the current security situation is quite unconfident and the Afghan forces seem quite weak to handover the security responsibility beyond 2014.
Thus, the deal to transfer the US-run major detention center to Afghan authorities within six months has been signed on the basis of "An Strategic Partnership Agreement" which has been under discussion between Washington and Kabul for over a year. This will be the only framework for U.S. involvement in Afghanistan beyond 2014, when the last U.S. combat troops are due to withdraw the ground. This process is believed to improve the prospects of strategic partnership allowing a long-term US involvement in the country. Thus, the deal for strategic partnership for the U.S. is very important that any failure to broker a deal might hurt the U.S-Afghan relations and increase the chances of a long-term turmoil in Afghanistan, one of the world's most unstable countries.
The deal between U.S. and Afghan authorities has just happened after the larger number of copies of Holy Koran was inadvertently burned at Bagram airbase by the U.S. soldiers that caused huge miseries on the ground with miserable protests by the Afghan citizens in vast parts of the country in which 30 Afghan citizens were killed, including six U.S. soldiers. Given the facts, the U.S. to win the minds and hearts of the Afghan people has completely failed and this would be the beginning of another war in the region. The recent tragedies have accrued by the U.S. soldiers in the country, heavily increased the hatred for the U.S. presence in Afghanistan and this would hurt the peace process with the Taliban which was in progress to be held in Qatar in the upcoming months.
What is so scary right now, the mistrust between the Afghan government and the Obama administration and both the parties grow in vacillation in terms of further support or drawdown. The current situation and complex politics have absolutely jeopardized the future of Afghan people who have long been waiting for a day to see Afghanistan grows in peace and stability.
The ongoing politics by both parties may lead to a huge loss for both the administrations. The Afghan and Obama administration must come up with a renewed strategy that should give hope to the people of Afghanistan and that both the parties truly care for these people and truly struggle in building Afghanistan, otherwise both parties may loss the gains being acquired by lots of devotion and bloodshed in the last ten years of constant fight.
However, the recent incident of an early morning on Sunday that an American soldier in Kandahar province's Panjwai district apparently murdered up to sixteen Afghan civilians, nine of whom were children in the cold blood further upset the people of Afghanistan.
This has had several times called that if you are to end the mission on war on terror, they are to promote the support of the local people who are the key towards making their mission succeed. In dozens of incidents now, the Afghan government and sometimes officers have increasingly turned their guns on their unsuspecting American and European military allies for they have no respect for the religious and cultural values of the Afghan people. This has worsened the situation since the U.S. troops became careless on their duty and have violated the religious value of the Afghan people.
The people are really worried about their future. They are confused on the current American strategy in Afghanistan as they come up with different visions in the fight against Taliban. This is not to ignore all the sacrifices and devotions that the U.S. and its allies had in Afghanistan in the last 10 years in the fight against terrorism. Indeed, the U.S. is doing great on the ground and made many achievements in many aspects of life, particularly in the field of education. But they don't have to spoil all their gains by some emotional movement.
They should stay in the country, but they need to increase their commitments based on better coordination with the Afghan security forces and still need to win the mind and hearts of the local afghan. An integrated force group could help bring a real peace and stability in the country. The U.S. and its alliance must continue their mission to ensure that Afghanistan never becomes a safe haven for extremism again, but grows in peace, security and stability.