Iraq was a largely secular society, whereas Afghanistan is strongly religious. Iraq's history was more stable, despite the war with Iran. Afghanistan, on the other hand, has a long history of war and battling invasions. Iraq and the Balkans are similar in terms of nation-building in that they both have sources of wealth at their disposal. The Balkans enjoy a European location, with easy access to markets for their goods. Iraq has oil. The Afghans, conversely, have a lucrative product but it is illegal in nature. Also, while the Balkans and Iraq both have politics and conflict predominantly on ethnic lines, Afghanistan's political structure is more complex (Maloney, 2004), based along clan lines such that conflict can arise even within members of the same group.

Overall, the efforts in Iraq have some similarities with the Balkans, but little with Afghanistan. That country's situation is unique among recent post-conflict nation-building efforts.

4. Terrorism tends to gravitate towards regions of instability and poor governmental control (Felbab-Brown, 2005). The power vacuum in many parts of Afghanistan allows for terrorist networks to operate and train. While there are other regions, such as bordering areas of Pakistan and parts of Africa, where such terrorist training can also be conducted, winning the war on terrorism inevitably means establishing political stability and economic prosperity in Afghanistan.

The present situation in Afghanistan, just as with the situation under the Taliban, has resulted in thousands of Afghanis joining terrorist and insurgency groups. There are relatively few such recruits coming from more stable, developed regions.

Furthermore, if such stability were to be achieved in Afghanistan, it would represent evidence of success in the "war on terror." The term, and movement among the world's leading states, essentially began with the overthrow of the Taliban. The first objective of the war on terror was to establish a stable and prosperous Afghanistan. Without this objective met, the war on terror can easily be interpreted as a punitive action against the Islamic world, resulting in more recruits to terrorist organizations. Success in Afghanistan would substantially staunch this image of the war on terror and the flow of new recruits to terrorist organizations.

5. States,...

The manner in which the states have divided control of different components of Afghanistan's governance is not congruent with the work that needs to be done. Multiple nations, each with different mandates, are all involved in the problem of opiate production. Because opiate production is an all-encompassing social, economic and political problem in the country, strategy should be created by all parties together, rather than the U.S., a few different European nations and the Karzai government, each with its own views and objectives. Moreover, you have the different governments in public disagreement with one another - U.S. criticism of Hamid Karzai on drug policy (Felbab-Brown, 2005), and criticism among different NATO groups with regards to the division of roles and responsibilities in the country.
Significant moves towards economic progress, such as the establishment of a viable banking system, would require significant coordination, in particular between the ruling government, major foreign players and organizations such as the World Bank and IMF. Yet to this point, no such efforts have been made, leaving only the narcoeconomy in its wake.

At present, there is no significant evidence to show strong cooperation between different nations and organizations with regards to building the fundamentals of a strong Afghanistan. Each group has its own opinions as to the solutions and coordination of implementation is therefore loose at best. Worse, there appears to be little consultation with the Afghan people themselves, despite the fact that their support is essential for the success of any efforts.

Works Cited

Felbab-Brown, Vanda. (2005). Afghanistan: When Counternarcotics Undermines Counterrorism. The Washington Quarterly. Autumn 2005 Vol 28, No. 5, pp.55-72

Olcott, Martha Brill. (2003). Taking Stock of Central Asia. Journal of International Affairs. Spring 2003 Vol 56, No. 2, pp.3-17

Maloney, Sean M. (2004). Afghanistan: From Here to Eternity? Parameters. Spring 2004 pp. 4-15

Roe, Major Andrew M. (2005). To Create a Stable Afghanistan: Provisional Reconstruction Teams, Good Governance, and a Splash of History. Military Review. Nov-Dec 2005 pp. 20-26