Afghanistan - Let's get it right this time

We hear nothing from the generals. They’ve spoken out in the past, telling us of the need for a surge of between 2000-6000 troops if we are to be successful in Afghanistan. But now they are silent. It is time for the politicians to do their thing.

Wisely, our political leaders are discussing among themselves two issues: What would constitute success in Afghanistan? What shoring up of the Afghanistan political structure would be required for the American and coalition forces to neutralize the Taliban and the al Qaeda remnants in that country?

The first challenge is to undo the fraudulent election that returned Karzai to the presidency. Current polls suggest, were new elections to take place in the near term, Karzai would be unlikely to receive even fifty percent of the vote. How would a non-Pashtun president sit with the majority of the Afghan people? Would it be better to seek out a Tajik or even an Uzbek in order to find a non-controversial figure from a non-entity tribe á la Kenya?

It will be a long, hard slog but this is the only way to proceed. More later on the subject of what constitutes “success” in Afghanistan.