Afghanistan Is Not Iraq

Critics say U.S. withdrawal will be catastrophic. They’re wrong

Afghan and U.S. security forces inspect the wreckage of an armored vehicle at the site of a suicide attack in Kabul on Aug. 10Photograph by Haroon Sabawoon/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Provide news feedback or report an error

Confidential tip?

Send a tip to our reporters

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

August 28, 2014 at 10:42 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

This article is part of the September 1, 2014 issue of businessweek.

Afghanistan’s political impasse has renewed calls that the U.S. revisit plans to pull its soldiers out of the country by the end of 2016. Look at Iraq, these critics say, arguing that a precipitous U.S. withdrawal that started in 2009 vaporized U.S. influence, opened the door to insurgents, and plunged Iraq into chaos.

There’s no denying that Afghanistan now teeters between civil war and its first peaceful political transition. Credible allegations of massive fraud have tainted the June election. An internationally supervised audit of the results is behind schedule and mired in controversy. President Hamid Karzai has threatened to leave office by Sept. 2, regardless of whether the audit is done.