Afghanistan End Game

The war in Afghanistan has been the third-longest longest conflict in American history, after the Revolutionary War and Vietnam. Yet there is no end in sight, the situation is deteriorating , and our allies have concluded that U.S. strategy cannot succeed . Over-reliance on air strikes has caused civilian casualties disproportionate to any military goals, making these air raids war crimes by definition. The top British commander in Afghanistan, Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith, said yesterday that western forces could not defeat the Taliban . “If the Taliban were prepared to sit on the other side of the table and talk about a political settlement, then that’s precisely the sort of progress that concludes insurgencies like this,” Carleton-Smith was quoted as saying. It’s about time that somebody important said this on the record. As a matter of fact, CNN reports that talks with the Taliban have been in the works for two years, and took pla...