Main Questions:

How effective is the US policy of Military action in Afghanistan:

What is the endgame of US policy in Afghanistan?
How successful has it been to achieve that goal?
1) Has it bought peace in the region?
2) Has it bought stability in the country and the broader region?
3) Has it helped improve the quality of life of the citizens?
What alternate strategies can be used to meet the foreign policy objectives of US
in Afghanistan?
Nation Building:
1) Educating the masses
2) Building strong democratic institutions
What would it take for the US to change it current policy to the alternate policy
suggested in the paper?

Section 1
- Terrorism problem in Afghanistan
Started with Mujahedeen movement in 1970s
After the Soviet war they settled there and wanted to rule.
Radicalism grew as the Taliban took over government.
9/11 happened and US entered Afghanistan in October 2001
Terrorism has grown over that time:
Today Taliban controls more land then it did back in 2001
There is more incidents of violence today then there were in 2001
Radicalism has grown because of violence has permeated into the local
culture.
There have been more recruits in Taliban to fight off US insurgency:
When a family member is killed because of US bombing, there is a strong
desire for vengeance. Vengeance is an integral part of the local culture called
the Pakhtunwali.
Section 2
What is the US foreign policy in Afghanistan?
- Ousted the Taliban out of government
 - Created a new democratic government in Kabul, and funded it with a lot
of monetary capital and supported with political backing.
- Created political institutions and an army.
- Tried to control the opium trade.
Foreign Policy:
- Eliminate Al-Qaida
- Eliminate the Taliban and extremist outfits of all hues and colors
- Create a stable democratic government which can:
I) Keep things under control long after the US exit
II) Ensure peace and stability in he country
III) Ensure that terrorist outfits do not reemerge.
IV) Ensure peaceful handover of power after 5 year term
Results of Foreign Policy:
- Weak puppet government and not much writ of the government outside
of the confines of Kabul and a few other large cities.
- More land is controlled by Taliban then ever before (Mostly in the vast
countryside)
- Death of Afghans from terrorist activities have more than doubled since
2001
- The country has turned into a war economy
- US & Afghan security forces have failed to control terrorism
- New outfits like ISIS and splinter groups of Taliban have been formed.

Section 3

Reimagining the foreign policy:

- Focusing more on state building measures
- Focusing on improving democratic institutions that exert greater power
in the day to day working of the government:
i)
- Creating schools and higher education institutes
- Stimulating economic growth by investing in different sectors of the
economy
- Empowering the youth by micro financing small businesses.
What would it take the US to change its foreign policy?
- Possible adversarial collaboration:
1) The US should pinpoint key metrics that it would like to improve such as
annual deaths from terrorist activity, GDP per capita, years od schooling,
number of jihadi fighters per square mile, etc.
2) Create a small state within Afghanistan so to speak
3) Implement new foreign policy in that area
4) Track the key metrics that the US wants to improve
5) Analyze results with other parts where US is following the old foreign
policy