Between 2003 and 2007, I visited Afghanistan 10 times in my capacity as an advisor to the Afghan Minister of Higher Education, and as an independent academic researcher examining relations between the NATO-led intervention forces and local people. Each visit provided plenty of opportunities to witness a stagnant state-building process that never failed to fall below expectations. The same was true of my most recent visit, a 10-day research trip that ended in March. I can report that the situation in Afghanistan has not improved since the end of 2009, when President Obama announced a timetable for the withdrawal of Western military forces, to commence in July 2011 and be completed in 2014. Indeed, in many ways, things have gotten worse.
As a social scientist with a great deal of empathy for the Afghan people, I have always supported the military intervention of 2001 and the broader missions of NATO...
