Resolved: NATO presence improves the lives of Afghan citizens.

First I would like to answer my opponent's questions. Second, I will pose a few of my own. Qn 1 ("How could the people run away? ") I have two responses. First, Taliban and NATO are not concentrated in cities. I've already told you this. You ask for evidence, so here is a map of the locations of the NATO bases: . http://en.wikipedia.org.... The Taliban also do not fight from cities. This is intuitive because there is much more cover available on the rocky plains and amongst the caves of southern Afghanistan. See . https://www.cia.gov... for your evidence. Because neither force fights from cities, there are no dense civilian clusters to reasonably attack. Therefore any civilians who are with the Taliban or NATO are not civilians. I hope this clears my argument up somewhat. Second, the Taliban does not suicide-bomb people because of the NATO presence. They suicide-bomb to strike fear in the general military population. Replacing a portion of the military population with another portion is not going to resolve this issue - indeed, the Taliban would probably (just my thinking, but hey! ) see this as a provocative move. In no event would this cause them to back off. Qn 2 ("Do I want 400 to die here? ") If the biggest war in the world was being waged in my country, I'd be very happy for only 0.0014% of the population to be killed each year in attacks. Relative to the population, that would be like 55 people dying yearly - more people die from road accidents during just the summer holidays! Qn 3 ("Doesn't the US command NATO? ") No, it doesn't. Since 2006, NATO has controlled all military operations in the south of Afghanistan, including the US operations. The north has already been conquered so it doesn't really matter who commands who there. See . http://en.wikipedia.org... Qn 4 ("Sources for warlord corruption") Al Quaeda, Interview with Dr Ayman Al-Zawahiri, 2005 Washinton Post, Interview with Barack Obama, 2009 Qn 5 ("How do we pacify by bombing") Three responses. First, NATO does not bomb civilian centers (see my earlier analysis). Second, my opponent ignores the widespread humanitarian assistance, infastructure rebuilding and development programs that only NATO engages in (see . http://www.nato.int...). Third, removing NATO would not remove air strikes. It would mean nations like France are no longer committing those air strikes but nations like the USA are. Frankly, the Afghan people don't care. Qn 6 ("How does NATO help rights when there are warlords? ") By removing said warlords from office, and in areas not controlled by warlords, by enabling the police force to enforce these rights. Qn 7 ("Why does Taliban propoganda work? ") Because it is very well-grounded in the Islamic belief system. Religious beliefs are never grounded in observable reality, yet people hold them. Al Quaeda have used this to their advantage. Qn 8 ("How would finishing the war in Afghanistan faster improve Afghan lives? ") Three reasons. First, no war. Therefore no killing, no fear, people able to get on with lives. Second, foreign troops would leave the country, so there can be no fear from foreign nations either. Third, no restrictive strict interpretations of Sharia law entrenched in constitution. Therefore better rights, therefore better standard of living. My questions: 1 - Name one war (which had actual conflict) with less civilian casulties per capita than the war in Afghanistan. 2 - Why should the USA have to bear the burden of conflict, rather than the European nations who also suffered so many losses helping out? 3 - Can you give me any analysis as to why it is the NATO forces as opposed to the US Army forces who attract suicide bombers? 4 - Which had worse human rights abuses - Karzai's government or the Taliban government? 5 - Is Karzai's government exclusivly backed by NATO troops, or does the US Army back him too? 6 - Since Karzai has come to power, have not all economic indicators (GDP etc) been indicating overall standard of living has increased? 7 - The Afghan people voted for Karzai in free and fair elections. Is it democratic to therefore strip him of his office? 8 - Which force is best placed to reforming the Afghani governmental system, if I were to admit that there are deep-seated problems (which I don't)? 9 - Given that Taliban propoganda targets the US, which force do you think the Afghani people are more likely to co-operate with - NATO or the US Army. 10 - Do you accept my claim that removing NATO forces would encourage the US to send more? If not, why not? 11 - What effect do you believe the removal of NATO troops would have on the morale of both sides of the conflict? Don't you think the Taliban will simply step up their "inhumane" attacks? 12 - Do you accept my claim that the removal of NATO troops encourages a world police view of the United States? If so, do you think this is a good thing? 13 - Who do you imagine will train the Afghani security forces after NATO leaves? 14 - Given this outcome, who do you imagine will conduct counter-narcotics operations after NATO leaves?