S. effort must follow certain guidelines in any such efforts, like for example, it must perforce be for the innate purpose of changing, or propping up the regime. It must also deploy large numbers of U.S. ground troops, and it must also involve these troops, as well as large numbers of civilians in the basic political administration of the country. (U.S. Involvement in Nation Building before Iraq) If all three of these criterions are met, then it can be termed as a nation building effort, as it happened in Germany after the World War II was concluded in May 1945, after which the victorious French and British and American and Soviet forces set about occupying particular zones in Germany, and in setting up military governments. (U.S. Involvement in Nation Building before Iraq) It was in 1947 that the multi-billion dollar 'Marshall Plan' was created, with the purpose of rebuilding and also strengthening the various democracies of Western Europe, and America took up the lead in transforming Germany from the dictatorship that it was, into a democracy. Therefore, the U.S.A., at the outset, outlawed the Nazi Party, and then disbanded the military and fired all the existing government officials. After this, a new German Police force was trained by America, to take over most law enforcement functions. (U.S. Involvement in Nation Building before Iraq) The very first National Elections in Germany took place in the year 1949, in the combined English, British and American occupied zones. This election in fact formed the 'Federal Republic of Germany', and since then, Germany has remained a strongly democratic nation. As far as Japan is concerned, after its surrender following the devastating atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, America was alone in occupying the nation and building it up into a democracy, and General Douglas MacArthur was the Supreme Commander of the reconstruction efforts being undertaken. (U.S. Involvement in Nation Building before Iraq) He wrote a new democratic Constitution, which the Japanese adopted in the year 1946, and one specific condition was that Japan must forfeit war forever. Democracy is now firmly rooted in Japan. (U.S. Involvement in Nation Building before Iraq)

In Afghanistan, following the Al Quaeda Terrorist attacks in September 11, 2001, on the World Trade Center in the United States of America, the United Nations gave a firm approval of the subsequent U.S. attacks on the Taliban Regime in Afghanistan. The reason may be that it was in fact the Taliban that had provided a refuge for the terrorists of the Osama bin Laden's Al Quaeda terrorist outfit that had launched the attacks. (U.S. Involvement in Nation Building before Iraq) Today, peacekeepers from the United Nations and from the NATO maintain peace and order in Kabul, the Capital city of Afghanistan, while at the same time, more than 10,000 numbers of U.S. troops are engaged in ferreting out members of the terrorist Al Quaeda outfit. It must be mentioned that even today, on account of the widespread and widely prevalent unrest and disorder and also violence in several parts of Afghanistan, the peace keeping and the nation building efforts have not taken off to a satisfying start as yet, and all efforts are being concentrated on maintaining law and order within the country. (U.S. Involvement in Nation Building before Iraq)

Both the Rand Report, as well as the Carnegie Report offers a similar opinion, that it is much too early to judge the effectiveness of the nation building efforts being undertaken by the United States of America, in Afghanistan. Both the Reports also state that in order for nation building efforts to be effective, there must be a suitable situation in that country, and among other conditions, some of the more important ones may be that, first and foremost, nothing at all can actually be achieved if the nation is not secure. (U.S. Involvement in Nation Building before Iraq) In other words, people must feel secure and confident enough about themselves to be able to go out and conduct their daily routines and lives and activities without fear. Therefore, it means that there must be more numbers of ground troops in the country. Secondly, if the nation building efforts were to be successful, then its peoples must be united, and possess a strong national identity, and it will do more harm than good if the entire nation were to be torn into several factions depending on ethnicity and other factors. (U.S. Involvement in Nation...

The Carnegie Report especially states that if an outsider were to take over these basic duties, then it would be completely unfavorable, and the outsider would inevitably be seen with hostile eyes. (U.S. Involvement in Nation Building before Iraq) If the country were to be economically developed, then it would be easier to bring in democracy. Otherwise, it would be much too difficult, as it is happening in Afghanistan, which is a completely economically under developed country. Thirdly, it would help to a great extent if the entire undertaking were to be based on multi-lateralism, because of the simple fact that it would be a less expensive affair on account of the involvement and the sharing of the expenses by other countries. (U.S. Involvement in Nation Building before Iraq)
The support of other neighboring nations would be guaranteed as well, and this would indeed "go a long way towards ensuring the success of the ongoing nation building efforts." (U.S. Involvement in Nation Building before Iraq) The Rand Report mentions that nothing can be achieved in one single day, and in this particular case, a time period of at the very least, five years, must be given to the United States, before it can be judged for the effectiveness of its nation building efforts in Afghanistan. Therefore, the more the level of efforts put in, and the more numbers of troops deployed, and the more amount of time spent on the efforts, the better would be its eventual success. (U.S. Involvement in Nation Building before Iraq)

In Afghanistan, as compared to what the U.S. forces were able to achieve in Somalia, in Kosovo, and in Bosnia, there is a clear 'regression', and perhaps the reason may be that the efforts are considerably less expensive than in the other nations. In Iraq, however, the challenges that the United States is facing today, are large and considerable, and according to the Rand Report, there are four valuable and extremely important lessons to be learnt form this particular experience. One is that it is a fact that democratic nation building will work, provided sufficient and adequate resources are offered and are available. (Nation Building, the Inescapable Responsibility of the World's only Super Power: Rand Review) However, it must also be remembered that such inputs may be very high, and that, as a result, they may not be available with ease. In a comparison with the numbers of troops that were used in a similar nation building exercise in other countries, and especially in Kosovo, and if the same levels of troop commitments that were used in Kosovo were to be used in Iraq as well, then it would mean that the numbers would be almost 500,000 U.S. troops and also coalition troops through the year of 2005. (Nation Building, the Inescapable Responsibility of the World's only Super Power: Rand Review)

In reality, in Iraq today, there are about 150,000 coalition troops deployed today. In addition, according to the Rand Report, to add to the military forces deployed in Iraq today, there must also be a significant number of international civil police in the country, and if today, the U.S.A. wished to achieve a similar level of civil police deployment in Iraq as it had in Kosovo, that is, about 5,000 police, then it would mean that in Iraq, there would have to be an immediate infusion of a minimum of about 53,000 international civil police officers, through 2005. (Nation Building, the Inescapable Responsibility of the World's only Super Power: Rand Review) In the same way, although it is a fact that it is indeed much too early to accurately predict the required levels of foreign aid for the United States to successfully rebuild and restructure Iraq, comparisons can be drawn form previous cases. (Nation Building, the Inescapable Responsibility of the World's only Super Power: Rand Review) For example, if the level of foreign aid that was provided in nation building efforts in Bosnia were to be given to the U.S.A. today in its ongoing efforts in Iraq, then it would mean that the country would eventually require about $36 Billion in aid from today through the entire year of 2005. Conversely, aid at the very same level of what had been given in the case of Afghanistan would…