The United States and other Allied forces in Afghanistan should not be pulled out.

I. It's Not Working Few of the goals put forth at the beginning of the conflict have been achieved, and those that have have only been slightly achieved. Despite the recent surge of troops in Afghanistan, the security situation has actually gotten worse. In fact, Robert Papes, an expert on the causes of suicide terrorism, testified in October to Congress, saying, "The picture is clear, the more Western troops have gone to Afghanistan, the more local residents have viewed themselves as under foreign occupation " and are using suicide and other terrorism to resist it. "[1] Further, the military operations are not even succeeding: "For 12 years, the US has given military solutions every chance to work. It is clear these efforts have failed. For example, the Afghan NGO Safety Office, a highly respected group that tracks insurgent attacks in Afghanistan, recently noted a 47% increase in attacks by armed opposition groups from the first quarter of 2012 to the first quarter of 2013. Inclusive political negotiations are extremely difficult in the best of conditions. As violence grows, any efforts are very unlikely to bear fruit without first securing a ceasefire between international and Afghan forces and the insurgency. "[2] You see, "As more and more districts come under Taliban control, despite U. S. claims of substantial progress, and the insurgency spreads to areas regarded until recently as relatively secure, displacement and humanitarian needs are also rising. The U. S. -led counter-insurgency doctrine that aid should consolidate military gains has been at best unsuccessful, if not counter-productive. "[3] II. It's Harming the Peaceful Afghans There are two groups of Afghans - the Taliban and the other, peaceful Afghans. In recent years, the peaceful Afghans have been suffering very hard. "The three greatest causes of civilian casualties are anti-government planted Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), suicide attacks and U. S. airstrikes. All three are closely linked with the presence of foreign troops in an area. " When troops enter, anti-foreign groups plant more IEDs and conduct more suicide bombings. [1] "With escalating violence, far fewer Afghan refugees returned in 2009 than any year since 2002. Meanwhile, the number of internally displaced persons fleeing war nearly doubled to 275,000. .. The number of Afghan civilians killed and wounded last year rose to nearly 6,000. "[1] III. A Real Solution An American withdrawal would open the door to the solution Afghanistan really needs - investment from its neighbors. China has considered mining Afghanistan's resources. Pakistan has considered running a pipeline through Afghanistan to get Turkmenistan's natural gas. This could create a situation where the Pakistani government would stop the Pakistani-originating insurgency. [4] "In short, an American withdrawal would pave the way for other regional players to become more deeply involved in Afghanistan, the one thing that actually could provide a stable and prosperous future for the country. It is clear that the American mission is no longer any help to Afghanistan, therefore the logical step is to end it, as quickly as possible. "[4] In the words of an old Afghan proverb, blood cannot be washed out with blood. I will get to refuting my opponent's argument in the next round. Sources [1]: . http://forusa.org... [2]: . http://www.guardian.co.uk... [3]: . http://www.war-times.org... [4]: . http://www.policymic.com...