There is much that can be said about the United States and its allies 2014 exit plan, but what can be said for sure is that an awful lot is riding on one year. In that year, Afghanistan must hold free and fair elections despite little progress in democratic practice to the point that NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen, two years early, stressed the importance of fair elections intimating that they weren't before. part of the occupying forces plan to leave Afghanistan with a competent army and national police force despite the fact most army and police officers are poorly paid, leaving them open to turning sides or spying for the Taliban.

The costs associated with running the Afghan army and national police forces will be unaffordable for future governments without outside support. At the time of writing, the Afghan army and national police have made so little improvement that according a GAO report, the DOD (department of defense) had to change to its evaluation methods to mask just how much both forces rely on the assistance of NATO and the US Army.

The idea beneath all these efforts goes along the lines of  making Afghanistan a stable, somewhat democratic state that is able to defend itself and its citizens to ensure there will be no return to a Afghanistan being an haven for terrorist groups despite there being plenty of places similar to pre war Afghanistan particularly Yemen  Somalia and Pakistan, with whom Afghanistan shares a border.

In sum, the stakes have always been high in Afghanistan as the US and its allies have sought to secure Afghanistan and turn it into functional democratic state weary of it remaining a haven for terrorist groups. However what has been clear in recent years is there was no real exit strategy out of Afghanistan as many of the problems that plagued Afghanistan more than a decade ago are still around now.as well the creation of  new ones in the growth, distribution, and increasingly the use of narcotics in Afghanistan.