Difference between Afghanistan and Iraq

Much has been written about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and much more will be written in years and decades to come. I think that very few have compared the history and the composition of the two countries and how much it is more difficult to see one self winning a war in Afghanistan than in Iraq. While the Iraq war which was started almost 2 years after the invasion of Afghanistan is winding down and troops will be withdrawing in a year or so, the fate of the Afghan war still hangs in the balance despite the thousands of NATO and American forces. Although the U.S. President has given a deadline to start withdrawing troops starting in the summer of next year (2011), I for one do not believe it will happen as planned. First of all no timeline should have been given despite the compulsions of the domestic audience. Since only the commanders on the ground know the true situation (and also the civilian officers who get briefings from the defense department).

We have not been able to close the Cuban prison despite the pledge of the U.S. President to closing early this year and there are no signs to close it as yet, so how can be just shut down our operations in Afghanistan at a certain time. The enemy does not go by our timeline (although they may wait till we actually do it and if we don’t then they will say that they never intended it in the first place). To be fair the war is not been won by either side and it will continue to be stalemate unless one side blinks.