A quick exit from Iraq, which some White House and Pentagon officials envision, would be a mistake. A hasty departure from Baghdad would no doubt avoid complications and save money. But rebuilding the country’s political system – a task that must be done with international oversight and assistance – will take time. Now that the United States has destroyed Iraq’s infrastructure and driven out its rulers, it cannot forsake its mission.

“I don’t think it has to be expensive, and I don’t think it has to be lengthy,” a senior administration official said Monday. “Americans do everything fairly quickly.” That includes Afghanistan. Less than two years ago, attacking and rebuilding that Muslim country was the American fixation. After a bombing campaign, the ruling regime, the Taliban, was driven from power and its leader – Osama bin Laden – disappeared.

Today, however, with American attention focused on Iraq, things aren’t going so well in Afghanistan. The Taliban, the repressive government best known for requiring women to wear head-to-toe covering and for smashing centuries-old Buddhist statues, is slowly reasserting itself. Its members are believed to be behind the recent killing of a Red Cross worker from El Salvador that prompted humanitarian aid organization to remove their workers from Afghanistan.

History is instructive here. After World War II, U.S. forces occupied Germany for four years and Japan for seven. Today, more than 100,000 U.S. soldiers remain in these countries. Both are now prosperous and democratic. Somalia and Afghanistan, where the United States got in and got out, are not. These few examples are hardly definitive, but Iraq looks much more like the latter countries rather than the former.

A State Department blueprint for post-war Iraq laid out ambitious goals. The aim, according to the document sent to Congress, was to aggressively move Iraq toward “self-managed economic prosperity, with a market-based economy and privately owned enterprises that operate in an environment governed by the rule of law.” The blueprint also laid out more than a year’s worth of work, including providing clean drinking water, trash pick-up and health care for the country’s citizens. Lofty goals and extremely worthwhile for the future of Iraq and the Middle East.

Such reforms don’t come cheap. Estimates are that it will cost $20 billion a year to reshape Iraq. While the price tag and time commitments are daunting, history has shown that the proper investment in nation building pays large dividends.