Massacre Occurred Again; Where Is America’s Policy toward Afghanistan Headed?

[unhappycamper]

http://watchingamerica.com/News/230880/massacre-occurred-again-where-is-americas-policy-toward-afghanistan-headed/

People have to worry about the security situation in Afghanistan, which will mostly depend on America’s policies toward Afghanistan after 2014.

Massacre Occurred Again; Where Is America’s Policy toward Afghanistan Headed?
By Shida Wang
Translated By Jingwei Qian
21 January 2014
Edited by Gillian Palmer

On Jan. 17, a terrorist attack occurred again in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. Three armed men attacked a restaurant, killing 21 people, including 13 foreigners. It was the single deadliest attack on Western civilians in Afghanistan in recent years. The Afghan Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack later, calling it revenge for a NATO drone airstrike in Parwan last week that had also caused civilian Afghan casualties.

There is no doubt that 2014 is a vital year that will determine the future situation of Afghanistan. The U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force is scheduled to complete its withdrawal from Afghanistan within the year, when local forces will take over security nationwide. Afghanistan’s presidential election will be held in April 2014. It would be the first power transfer of Afghan government since 2001. Its success or failure is bound to affect the evolution of political ecology in Afghanistan. The Taliban took drastic action at the beginning of the year. People have to worry about the security situation in Afghanistan, which will mostly depend on America’s policies toward Afghanistan after 2014.

At present, the U.S. is speeding up the “withdrawal without real action” strategy. The Afghan war, which is “the longest war in American history,” has consumed substantial financial, military and diplomatic resources. More and more Americans have voiced concern that the loss of the war outweighs the gain. The Obama administration has been pushing hard for the adjustment of national safety strategy since it came to power. Anti-terrorism no longer dominates everything in U.S. foreign affairs, as it did during the George W. Bush era. Under these circumstances, the U.S. has been continuously lowering its hopes in Afghanistan — ensuring forces like al-Qaida cannot plan and implement terrorist attacks based in Afghanistan targeting America and its allies, instead of first building Afghanistan into an exemplary democratic country in the region. Fortunately, the U.S. forces successfully shot bin Laden dead in May 2011, which provided a perfect excuse for the U.S. to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan with dignity.

However, we must be aware that America’s withdrawal is really not complete. Actually, it wants to retain a certain scale of military presence in Afghanistan and even its surrounding areas. The reason is simple. The U.S. can hardly make a determined effort to abandon the complete military base network in Afghanistan, built up painstakingly over the past decade. Furthermore, the U.S. is worried that the Taliban could grow after the withdrawal, or even occupy nearly half of the country and stand up to the Kabul regime as an equal. The U.S. is more worried that al-Qaida would set up headquarters in Afghanistan and make another anti-American “jihad.” Hence, the U.S. is raising pressure on the Afghan government to sign a bilateral security agreement that would provide legal framework allowing American troops to remain in Afghanistan and have access to military installations there after 2014.

[valerief]

1. Isn't the US there for the opium? nt