INTERNATIONAL
VANDERBILT POLITICAL REVIEW
Will freedom endure?
Long-term success in Afghanistan is far from guaranteed
O
n September 20, 2001, nine days
after the deadliest terrorist attack
in history on United States soil,
President George W. Bush stood before
a grieving nation. His message that night
was simple: the United States would stand
resolute in the War on Terror. Al-Qaeda
would not win. The Taliban leaders of Afghanistan would be held liable for bringing
Osama Bin Laden and his forces to justice
or they too would fall. It was this resolve
that also prompted international support.
On October 7, 2001, the United States-led
coalition began Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) in Afghanistan to bring Osama
Bin Laden to justice, destroy the Al-Qaeda
network, and depose the Taliban regime.
According to a 2013 CNN poll, the
War in Afghanistan is the longest and
most unpopular war in United States history. Nearly 2,300 U.S. soldiers have lost
their lives and the fighting has cost over
$700 billion dollars. Success has been
elusive. Although Osama Bin Laden and
other key Al-Qaeda operatives are dead,
Al-Qaeda has evolved into a decentralized
network with bases in Yemen and across
North Africa. Within Afghanistan, the situation is dire. Despite President Obama’s
2010 troop surge, the Taliban has gained a
firm foothold in many parts of the country which will only increase in the power
vacuum left after U.S. troops withdraw
later this year. In addition, President Hamid Karzai has as of yet refused to sign
the Strategic Partnership Agreement—a
bilateral security agreement that outlines
U.S. troop involvement after 2014—
even though billions of dollars’ worth
of desperately-needed military and economic aid are contingent upon the deal.
As such, formulating policy beyond
2014 is particularly difficult. The United
22
by VIVEK SHAH ‘17
States, along with the international community, has invested far too much into
Afghanistan for the state to fall back into
the hands of the Taliban or once again become a terrorist safe haven. On the other
hand, the United States is in a precarious
position. The growing presence of the
Taliban casts doubt on the legitimacy of
the central government in Kabul, and with
presidential elections looming in April
and no clear favorite, there is increasing
concern that elections may erode into
sectarian violence. These circumstances undoubtedly factored into the recent
Nation