To successfully deal with the Afghanistan crisis and to ensure a long-term military presence in the country, the United States is trying to shore up its points of vulnerability in connection with Pakistan.

U.S. and European officials have been focusing on Afghanistan over the past few days. During a recent visit to Islamabad for a meeting with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates stressed the United States’ long-term commitment to fight the Taleban in Afghanistan.

On the other hand, the NATO chairman predicted that the violence and unrest would be over by the end of 2009 and the stage would be set for lasting peace.

Afghanistan has become the center of attention because the NATO mission in the country has run into a crisis. Taking command of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and expanding its mission to the entire country, NATO began a new war against the Taleban, but some of the original objectives have still not been accomplished. The resurgence of the Taleban is proof of this.

Currently there are 40,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, half of them U.S. forces and the rest provided by other NATO countries. However, given the large scope of the goals of this mission, troop strength seems insufficient, probably due to the fact that the U.S. military is overstretched in Iraq, which has led to the debacle in Afghanistan.

Of course, the countries involved in the Afghanistan crisis have adopted various approaches to resolve the issue, such as increasing troops and funding, but without an appropriate modification of the current strategy, these moves will most likely not make much difference.

There are a few factors which are necessary for the success of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. The coalition forces’ failure to pay proper attention to these factors has led to their inability to reach their goals.

After the Taleban was toppled, the world made promises to the Afghan people about the reconstruction of their country, but these promises were not kept. The reconstruction process seems rather symbolic these days and the few major construction projects implemented so far have not brought any noticeable improvement to the people’s everyday lives.

Meanwhile, the violent and disrespectful behavior of U.S. and NATO forces and their mistakes in targeting during air raids have created animosity toward foreign forces and caused some Afghans to seek shelter with the Taleban.

In addition, the process of establishing the government and laying the foundation for democracy has not been satisfactory. Widespread corruption, chaos, and the fact that warlords accused of war crimes and drug mafia kingpins have attained government posts have increased the people’s dissatisfaction with the government.

The Taleban has bases outside of Afghanistan, especially in Pakistan. They are inaccessible to the coalition forces, and thus the Taleban enjoy unhindered access to training bases and logistical and political support.

These are the vulnerable points of the Western forces in Afghanistan. Perhaps, understanding these points, Gates visited Pakistan to cut one of the most important lines of support for the Taleban. His visit was neither for criticism nor for delivering warnings. Rather, it was meant to show appreciation to Pakistan for its cooperation with U.S. and NATO forces and to encourage Islamabad to continue this process.

It is evident from Gates’ use of the phrase “long-term commitment to oppose the Taleban” that the U.S. government is dreaming of a long-term presence in Afghanistan, and to make this a reality it needs the cooperation of regional powers like Pakistan.

It seems that NATO intends to stay in Afghanistan to accomplish its mission, in line with its new cold war policy of control and management of international crises.

However, as long as the West is not really committed to the reconstruction of Afghanistan and does not consider cooperation with Afghan armed groups, the current problems will remain unresolved.