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The U.S. military is confronting more complex and challenging circumstances in Afghanistan than in Iraq, Gov. Gary Herbert said Wednesday after touring bases in both countries this week.

Herbert said during a conference call from Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan that the fractious tribal nature of the war-torn nation, its ongoing segregation of women in the culture and mistrust of Americans continue to present obstacles.

"You look at Iraq, they're standing up. They have democracy and they're electing people," he said. "You don't see that here in Afghanistan against the tribal culture. You have corruption in the leadership and the Taliban taking control, but there seems to be a change occurring and with the assurance that America is not going to abandon them, more people are getting courage and stepping forward."

Herbert said he is confident that there is a path to success for the United States, but it could take time — and American military leaders assured him they will be in Afghanistan for some time to come.

Former Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson, who now heads the group High Road for Human Rights, said there is no reason for U.S. troops to remain in Afghanistan — the Taliban is getting stronger, U.S. drone attacks are killing innocent people and engendering hatred of Americans.

"It does nothing for our country. Those who say these are people fighting for our nation's freedom aren't paying attention," Anderson said. "If we want to support our servicemen and women, we should be doing everything we can to get them out of harm's way."

Herbert said the trip to Afghanistan has cleared up some misconceptions he had. For example, he believed that the anticipated draw-down will be a complete withdrawal, but it will only return U.S. forces levels in 2014 to the levels they were at before the surge of 30,000 troops ordered by President Barack Obama in 2009.

Obama has now said that he plans to withdraw 10,000 of those troops by the end of the year and reduce the force to 68,000 troops on the ground by 2014.

"[Military leaders] made a point of telling me we're not pulling out of Afghanistan. We're going to be here and support the transition as they take more and more of the responsibility," Herbert said.

The governor said that Gen. John Allen, who took control of Afghan operations last month, has a "laser-like" focus on transferring responsibility to Afghans — an objective that has an emphasis now that might have been lacking before.

Herbert met with a handful of Utah soldiers, mostly bookkeepers and office workers stationed in Afghanistan.

The governor said he understands the sacrifice Utah men and women who serve in the military are making, but Herbert said the end result will be worth it.

"Bad things happen in war and good things can come out of this conflict," Herbert said. "I'm confident, at least, that we have a plan in place and … I think we'll all be satisfied with the outcome."

Herbert repeated a sentiment he heard at the funeral of Corp. Raphael Arruda on Saturday, a soldier from Utah who was killed in Afghanistan last month, that Arruda believed the work being done was valuable and important to U.S. freedom.

But Anderson said the best thing that can be done is to end the war now.

"My heart goes out to any family that loses someone fighting in the military, but to save others from going through that tragedy, I would suggest people learn more about the nature of these engagements and whose interests are really at stake," he said.