Iraq:

This is the country Im more knowledgeable with because I've spent a lot more time there compared to Afghanistan. Im a Desert Storm vet and I flew into Nasariyah with the 101st. I will try to break it down using our COIN (counter insurgency) operational objectives.

Iraq had a great infrastructure with in the major cities prior to Desert Storm, yet it did improve during the rebuilding from 2005-10. There definitely was a significant increase in commerce over the years. I'm not certain how many cell phone towers were added, but I know it was a ton of them.

Education seemed to have increased a bit too, but its hard to say just how much it had when comparing before and after. I do know that when I was there in 2010, nearly all of the teen aged kids were still in school and a lot of them talked of going on to college in Babel. Further, they knew that their lives would be a lot better with an education and it was their ticket out of poverty.

One of Iraq's biggest challenges, IMO, was nepotism. All levels of government (local, province, state, ect) was a family affair. Because of this, it was slow to change, if at all and decisions were made to benefit the family instead of the people. As a result, the populous tended not to trust their leaders and they fell back on either direct conflict or subversion tactics (read: tribal fighting) to get what they felt was justice and equality.

All in all, Iraq has the potential to becoming a force with in the middle east again. It has the natural resources, infrastructure and education to get there, but it must present viable governance first.

As for Afghanistan, I operated in the Kunar River Valley and a bit in the Pech River Valley as well. This is the area that turned the tide in the early 80's in favor of the Mujahidin over the Russian invasion. Very, very rugged terrain and primitive people that borders the Pakistani border.

Much like Iraq, the government is ripe with nepotism. The good jobs to be had are funneled to family members. This is done not only to richen families, but also to control their region more. You see, there isn't much of a sense of national pride, but instead tribal. Because of the nomadic tendencies of the people, family ties trumps all.

Has the region seen improvements? Yes, it has. The infrastructure has taken huge steps with the paving of roads, bridges being built and a cell phone network that rivals lots of places in the states.

With the improved infrastructures, commerce began to improve a good deal. The only problem is, the local government would do their best to capitalize on the increase in commerce by charging 'tolls' to anything and everything that looks like is business related at almost all checkpoints set up on the roads, and the rates would vary depending on the tribal conflicts of the ones at the checkpoints and the ones with the goods. You can just imagine the conflicts that occur on a daily basis.

Afghanistan has two different governments. The legitimate, elected officials (still #badword#bags) and a shadow government. The shadow government exist by and large through the Taliban. The legit GOV is much more biased towards their tribe and is lethargic, and the shadow takes advantage of these two weaknesses. The shadow will hold a Shira (their version of court, but a panel of the local elders known to make wise decisions) and settle disputes. This delegitimizes the elected government and makes the Taliban more powerful. That's why I mentioned the corruption in the earlier thread, its killing Afghanistan's ability to stabilize.

One other glaring problem that Afghanistan faces is the lack of natural resources. Quite frankly, they have next to nothing there to sell. One of the few things that I became very intimate with; Lumber. That, and poppies. There is nothing legal for the locals to do to make a product to sell, only crops to survive. This makes it hard for the US to win the COIN battle.

One good thing to note is the educational increase. Just like in Iraq, the kids are seen daily going to school and they seem to understand that education is the key to their future. In fact, I noticed a lot of the elders taking their grand kids with them to the shira's, which wouldn't have happened 15 years ago.

All in all, Afghanistan has improved a lot since American forces entered the country 12 years ago. However, I'm not very optimistic for its future in the few years. I'm holding out to see what happens when the now teenagers become more powerful. Maybe the education of their kids can make a difference.