Can the Iraq and Afghanistan National Security Forces maintain?

 By Thomas Lorenz

     While the United States Military has initiated its withdrawal from Afghanistan, will the Afghan Forces be able to maintain security of the country?
     President Barack Obama addressed the problem during the State of the Union address and stated:
“With Afghan forces now in the lead for their own security, our troops have moved to a support role."(2014 State of the Union Address) President Obama has approached this problem on dates previous to the State of the Union address, yet in my belief the system does not work. The U.S. Military has had a system of training troops since its Declaration of Independence in 1776. To develop a well trained military member, at its lowest ranks is around 6 months to a year. Basic training for service members is no less than 10 weeks long, however it takes longer to understand the job. The leadership whom trains and leads the U.S. forces have generations of experience and expertise to back itself up. Iraq does not have this.
     President Obama is correct in the fact that Afghanistan and Iraq need to take care of their own, but at a cost. Currently Iraq has fighting in Al Anbar Province and Al Qaeda has taken control of Fallujah and the Capital of Al Anbar, Ramadi. Since the last troops to left Iraq in December 2011, Iraq has been in a steady down hill slide of civil unrest, political strife and tribal disagreement and raises another question "have we left to soon"?
     Yes, we have lost precious lives in Iraq and Afghanistan, but will those deaths be all for not. If the U.S. doesn't properly leave these countries in a position to defend themselves, it will be. Many questions of why and how the U.S. entered Iraq have been asked since the first day the U.S. invaded; it appeared that natural resources and revenge were behind the motivation of the invasion, especially when no weapons of mass destruction were not found. The biggest crimes during the Iraq invasion were the strategy of occupation, goals of the administration, and lack of proper planning for the country once we took control of it. 
     The United States has been coined as the worlds big brother and its original idea of isolationism had been on the out since Theodore Roosevelt. The U.S. invites itself to many countries, and in the eyes of the host counties, as an uninvited guests. Most instances of compromised national security and interests have required the U.S. presence in those countries, but that doesn't make them any less responsible for the actions in the countries that the U.S. have invaded. Any invading country with the goal to eliminate a threat, establish a government and infrastructure, should not leave before the status of that country is stable. Not to mention that Al Qaeda still hasn't been eradicated,  or that its presence evolved in Iraq during and especially now since U.S. Forces have been withdrawn.
     To break down in terms what I have discussed. The United States can not afford more mishaps nor indecision on how we conduct ourselves in World affairs. Our entry into Iraq was abrupt and ill planned, and it put the mission of Afghanistan at risk and extended the war there. The world is not safer, it is just more covert. Our foreign policies must change, especially if military intervention is needed. The security forces of Iraq and Afghanistan are minimal at best, they are not an Army. To call them such is not correct, and do not expect great things from either force. We will see in the next 6 months to a year how bad things can get if either of these countries can't get their act together.