Withdrawal from Afghanistan

Currently the withdrawal date for American personnel is 2014. The Obama administration claims the war is going well with last December's surge of 30,000 troops, the use of predator drones and the further cooperation with Pakistan. Pakistani forces have been coordinating against the Taliban on their eastern front while the U.S., Afghan and NATO forces assault their western front. At the moment though it is difficult to see how successful the war is due to that Taliban forces traditionally do not fight during the winter. It is expected that Taliban resistance will harden during the spring and summer. But even in the winter the U.S. has not been overly successful. President Obama's strategy of "clear, hold, build" has not exited the "clear" stage. U.S. and NATO forces have had some success clearing Taliban areas but have not been able to hold them. Even though there has been an increased U.S. presence in the east and south of Afghanistan there has been a decline in the northern and western regions of the country. Last Thursday Obama remarked that the Afghan strategy is going according to plan and that the scheduled drawdown will begin in July, but troops on the ground believe the war is intensifying and only beginning. After nine years of combat the Taliban show no sign of ending their resistance. Their insurgents still actively fight U.S. and NATO forces along with persistently assassinating and targeting Afghan officials. The Afghan government cannot fill over a third of government positions due to the fear caused by the high mortality rate of their officials.
The Question then arises: Is Afghanistan worth fighting for? The cost of the Afghan War is about $7 billion a month. It costs a million dollars a year for one soldier to be in Afghanistan and Obama just added an additional 30,000 troops. After nine years of combat the debt accrued is more than I want to count. A total of 2,193 NATO soldiers have died during this conflict. 1,361 of those deaths were American and about 9,770 American military personnel have been wounded. When considering those few factors alone I do not believe the war is worth fighting anymore and 60% of Americans also agree with that conclusion. Originally the war was necessary to dismantle al Qaeda but according to senior U.S. intelligence officials there are around a 100 al Qaeda operatives currently in Afghanistan. The Taliban itself says al Qaeda has a very small role in this war. This war has become more about stopping the Taliban from retaking Afghanistan. And though no one wants to see that happen, it is not worth the price we are paying. How can the American people directly benefit from a democratic Afghanistan? It is a third world nation everyone had forgotten about after the Soviets abandoned their war with Afghan insurgents. It is time for the withdrawal of the majority of U.S. and NATO forces.