Afghanistan has a very deep history. no attackers ever stayed there long. from Alexander to Russian Empire had very bad experiance in afghanistan. Please Keep Peace in your discussions and don't jump to conclusion. If you don't know anything about Afghanistan Please don't give comments.

Our forces will stay in Afghanistan as long as we want them to. The US military and the US population don't want to stay in Afghanistan because it's a piss-ant country with ugly women, no economy and therefore nothing much to do, it's a lousy vacation spot when you have leave time, they don't have oil or consumer goods that we would buy (except drugs but that tends to hurt the customer), you can't or don't want to buy property there, etc. Maybe in a few years or decades the Afghans can get their country in order to the point that American civilians will actually want to go there to spend their leisure time/dollars. But I'm not holding my breath.

The Coalition forces, and there is a calittion there will stay until all of the following conditions are met

 

1. The Afgani government ask us to leave, which right now they are doing the opposite

2. Al Queda's precense in Afganistan is completely destroyed

3. Afganistan is one it's feet and free from the threat of a Taliban return

Well that is truly a mature, non abrasive and well informed response!

 

 My impression on the average Afghan is they simply want to eat, feed the family and live the same existence they have for hundreds of years. Raising poppies pretty much fits in with that lifestyle.  The majority of the population seems pretty isolated to me. They probably do not even care who rules Kahandahar. It’s not going to effect their quality of life outside the capital city. "Ruling" Afghanistan has to be a thankless task. No income to tax and receiving aid from the world just to keep the government going. Indigenous armies have to be outfitted and paid fairly well to keep them. Most soldiers can make more money with poppies.  The minute coalition troops pack their rucks and go home, the coup clock starts ticking.  I wish I could imagine a stable democracy there in the absense of western military muscle.

If that's the best you can respond with, then what I posted must have a lot of truth in it. Otherwise, you would be dissecting it with ease. So yeah, Afhganistan sucks. But that's normal over there. The big news will be if the Afghans get their country in shape to the point that people will willingly go there for tourism.