NEW! Click here to go to our Forum on Afghanistan. Anonymously discuss and post comments about Afghanistan and about the material we have provided on this page. You will need to register to use the forum by clicking on "register" at the top of the page. Please engage with others respectfully and with thoughtfulness. Comments that do not meet this criteria will be removed.
Also, please submit questions to be posed to our speakers on the conference calls either on this forum (Forum on Afghanistan) under the thread entitled "Q&A for Conference Calls," or at board@mfso.org.
More troops is not a good strategy.Instead we should have two-pronged effort that features a more limited military objective with just special forces and more effective aid.
The military strategy should focus on counterterrorism not counterinsurgency.We should continue to prevent al Qaeda from establishing training camps in Afghanistan but not try to hold territory or chase the Taliban. This would only involve special forces.This strategy would be less costly, more realistic and less likely to alienate Afghan nationalists.
There should be more investment in agricultural irrigation, energy and roads. Increased support for most effective departments including education, health, and rural development.Efforts in nation-building, governance, and counternarcotics should be smaller and more creative. Only the Afghan government can have the legitimacy, knowledge and power to create a nation.
The situation in Afghanistan is not one of a traditional insurgency. NATO forces are not the targets; ordinary Afghans are. Thus, withdrawal will not solve the problem and will lessen security for ordinary Afghans.
A political settlement with the Taliban would not solve the country’s problems but would only exacerbate them.
Out of frustration some Afghans are giving into the demands of the Taliban or shifting their support to the Taliban, but most Afghans don’t want to see them come to power.They want better behaved officials.
The key to success in Afghanistan is holding accountable those officials the U.S. put into power.
The war in Afghanistan can not be won and does not satisfy the moral and legal requirements of a “just war”
The war is not in our “national interests” because of the monetary cost, endangering military readiness, and the mental and physical costs to our troops.
Joe Leiberman argues for surge to help train and ready Afghan army so that it may secure its country's future against the Taliban: AR2008030302630_pf.html
