Ideal Solutions + Proposition for the ANA

In a perfect world, America would be able to eradicate the Taliban and secure basic human rights in Afghanistan, especially for women, leave the federal democracy in the hands of Karzai, and legalize the poppy industry internationally to create a stable non-black-market economy for the country.

However, the Taliban is strongly backed by non-western non-liberal ideals that Americans may not understand, Afghanistan has historically rejected democracy or input from invading countries, Karzai has shown little progress to remove himself from under US control, and it is unlikely the top black-market consumers of Afghanistan’s poppy- India and Russia- will allow the purchase of the illicit drug.

Ultimately, to be able to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan safely, there needs to be a well-armed and well trained military presence in Afghanistan that is able to police the streets without US occupation. In order to do so, we believe the US should gradually remove fighting assemblies in order to install a smaller order of military training units to develop the Afghan National Army. The US should only stay until they have effectively trained the ANA so that they can take a lead role in fighting insurgency.