There is much to be said about Afghanistan, from its culture to its recent history of turmoil, grief, and political-economic dysfunction but what can't be said is that Afghanistan, for all the efforts of NATO and the UN, will come out from the other side, if such a side exists. What it would take to get Afghanistan on its feet would mean more blood and treasure for the occupying forces as Afghanistan has been on its knees for a long time.
From the British Empire, to the Soviets, and now the United States, Afghanistan has been in a state of constant conflict with foreign powers and local warlords all scrambling for their share of Afghanistan future with normal Afghans trying to survive the carnage in the middle. The violence in Afghanistan is still rampant, death prevalent, hope dimming and reality damning.
The United States and its allies have been in Afghanistan for ten just over ten years with the aim making sure Afghanistan does not become a headquarters for terrorists and have little to show for it. Part of this plan was to give Afghanistan an top class army and and national police force which so far has failed miserably as both bodies charged to keep the peace cannot complete crucial tasks without NATO and the UN holding their hand. Even if the managed in the two two years of their stay to make the Afghan army and the nation police force the envy of the Middle East, the government in place will not be able to cost to keep it that way.
There has been a steady growth in the production of poppies, an opiate used to make heroin, mostly due to it being the only crop that affords a life just a shade over destitution. Afghanistan has never been a haven of opportunity and prosperity, but desperation and despair has became the popular sentiment of the day. Due to the lack of human capital, Afghanistan's hopes economic development look to be down in the dumps, mostly to the treatment of women, a key factor in any economic growth.
The socio-cultural norms in Afghanistan leave women at a major disadvantage with regards to education and economic opportunities as there a string of stories reporting the death and brutal attacks of girls for the heinous crimes of disobeying (usually male) authority figures or going to school to get an education. In sum, Afghanistan's problems look here to stay for the rest of the U.S. spell there and long after it as the problems that haunt Afghanistan are historic than they are anything else and problems of such nature require more than money or military strength.
