The countering arguments, that minimalist footwear (and presumably bare feet) cause foot injuries, comes from the many people who were injured after trying minimalist footwear, believing that they would get "exactly" the same benefits as barefoot. (feedback, foot strength, and fewer injuries - without the "inconvenience of pain", or "danger" of broken glass)
Virtually every "barefoot" runner I have talked with (after seeing them in the "boot"), injured themselves simply because they tried to do too much too soon (one was even a friend whom I had given a copy of my book - which has many explicit warnings about exactly this phenomenon - she did not bother reading it before breaking her foot). If these poor "soles" had started out actually, literally barefoot, preferably on stimulating terrain (not manicured lawns, or beach sand - as many "experts" instruct), they would have had immediate feedback from the terrain through their bare soles letting them know two very important things;
- Bare soles on stimulating terrain will tell you RIGHT NOW! when you should make corrections in your technique.
- Bare soles will let you know AFTER you finish your barefoot outing (that burning sensation on your soles) that you pushed yourself, and should let your feet rest for a day and go out much easier and shorter next time.
Many of the minimalist beginners feel that they're feet are not ready to go barefoot, so they use minimalist footwear which allow them to do much more than their feet are ready for (without the immediate pain), and with technique that NO FEET are ready for (and again, without the pain/warning to NOT do that). Again, that pain, isn't an annoyance, it's a warning that you're probably going to injure yourself if you continue without changing your technique, and without taking time to build-up foot strength gradually. Blocking pain - and I cannot say this often enough, so here it is again - blocking the immediate pain of your soft bare soles on rough terrain is NOT doing yourself any favors. It simply allows you to gradually break down your feet without the immediate warning that you need to learn better technique, and build up gradually.
Now, I have also heard from a few people who have had great success with minimalist footwear. I presume this is because they took the time to build those foot muscles, and hopefully even did some work on trying to improve technique. GREAT! (for you). But most people don't have that kind of patience, and if they are convinced by advertising that says they can get the "same benefits", and "reduced injuries" without the "pain" (which should read, "feedback to help improve your technique"), then of course, many obviously have BOUGHT into that fallacy (literally).
What's really cool, is the number of people who went this route, and then for one reason or another finally did go literally barefoot, and realized that they got exponentially more feedback from bare soles, than from even the thinnest soled footwear, and that feedback gave them the information needed to make the most subtle improvements to their running technique, which they would never have been aware of in minimalist footwear. Note: Some of these subtle improvements are fine-tuned precisely for your body, that way it is shaped and works today, something nobody else can observe from the outside, or help you correct.
One final thought - in my opinion, if you get the technique correct (easy, gentle, and efficient), foot strength isn't going to be all that important for normal daily walking and running around your neighborhood (unless you live on the side of the Himalayan Mountains or something like that). Now, of course, your foot strength will increase, as you walk and run barefoot, especially if you listen to the warnings from your bare soles telling you to walk and run gently, easily, and efficiently while increasing speed and distance gradually. And one other thing, every outing should not be more difficult than the last. 90% of our outings should leave us feeling refreshed, not beaten down!
As evidence that perfect and strong feet are not as important as many presume, I present myself and the fact that I have been running barefoot for the past 2 and a half decades probably with a broken metatarsal, which had not healed properly (until recently) and was caused originally by twisting my ankle while wearing running shoes. More info at:
http://barefootrunning.com/?p=9154