The Afghanistan tightrope
Jonathan Moore was a 2009-10 recipient of the Dr. Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award from the Institute of Global Leadership.
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Published July 13, 2010
As US foreign policy makers wrestle about Afghanistan, three temptations must be forcefully resisted: re-asserting the US commitment to winning the insurgency war against the Taliban; weakening the US plan to begin withdrawing forces; and blocking local and regional efforts to negotiate a resolution.
The review of our Afghan policy scheduled for December should begin now, with its efforts devoted to getting out as soon as can be managed, and not to hanging on open-endedly, hoping against evidence and reason that things will seriously improve.
This is a risky balancing act, but continuing with the existing option is more treacherous.