The Guardian view on Afghanistan: the US and its allies must not lose interest after the pullout of western troops

It is tempting to wipe from the record 13 years of western military engagement in a faraway land that has cost much treasure for very questionable results in terms of nation-building. Afghanistan is a very imperfect example of international intervention.

The initial and legitimate reason for landing British, US and other troops back in 2001 was to eliminate the al-Qaida bases (and the Taliban government that refused to cooperate) in the country that had made 9/11 possible. But over the years, the operation morphed into a complex, overblown, high-maintenance coalition of 140,000 soldiers and more than 40 nations. One of the issues experts debate is whether it was right to deploy large numbers of western soldiers in the Pashtun territories after 2004-05, which may have fuelled a Taliban insurgency that found its roots in the age-old instincts of Afghan resistance to outside invaders. The ancient name of these lands, “kingdom of insolence”, could have served as a reminder of how difficult the enterprise was bound to be. Now we are faced with another question: as 31 December, the day set for the completion of the withdrawal of Nato combat troops from Afghanistan, approaches, what will be left behind? 

Fortunately the US administration and some of its allies appear acutely aware of the risks of closing down western involvement in Afghanistan too quickly. In 2011, Barack Obama was clearly over-confident when he declared: “we are leaving behind a sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq”. Three years on, Iraq is the theatre of a new international military engagement, as an extremist Islamist force carves out swaths of land and attracts jihadists from around the world.   

 A similar scenario in Afghanistan is the stuff of nightmares. The London donor conference this week will have this in mind. Garnering enough support for the newly elected Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, will be crucial. After the Soviets retreated from Afghanistan in 1989, it took just three years for their man, Mohammad Najibullah, to be toppled, and for the country to plunge into the abyss of all-out civil war after Moscow abruptly cut off all financial support.   Read More