"The Definition Of A Good Woman, And Other Stories"

An interesting bunch from a post at The Canada-Afghanistan Blog--the conclusion:

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Jari and Terry both spot a fantastic report from the Internatioal Crisis Group. Jari uses the ICG report to answer some conventional wisdom:

• Let’s separate the wheat from the chaff and negotiate with the wheat! Think again: “Numerous peace agreements with jihadi groups and networks, in Pakistan and in Afghanistan, have broken down within months. In each case they have enhanced the power and activities of violent insurgents while doing nothing to build sustainable institutions.
  
• Okay, so how about arming one tribe against the others? Fuhgeddaboutit: “Afghanistan is awash with weapons and armed groups. Creating unaccountable local militias — based on false analogies with Iraq — will only worsen ethnic tensions and violence.”
• Screw it, let’s go home. Not so fast, amigo: “Withdrawing international troops with the threat that any regrouping of jihadis or al-Qaeda can be countered by air power and special forces would simply return the country to the control of jihadis. Air power has not proven successful against insurgents or terrorist bases. Neglect would allow the region to descend into further chaos, as it did in the 1990s.”
  

Sarah Chayes, who lives in Kandahar City and wrote a book a few years ago that I thought was very good, writes up her ideas for how to proceed in Afghanistan (via Tom Ricks). The introduction:

Afghanistan, once thought of as the "good war", is on the brink of being lost. But the failure of the US and international effort there is not a foregone conclusion. A thoughtful, wide-ranging shift in strategy on the part of the Obama Administration can still avert Afghanistan's likely fate as an irrevocable--and dangerous--failed state, with ominous implications for the region and the rest of the world.

Regular readers will know how much that first sentence pisses me off, but the rest is worth reading. I am skeptical of some of things Chayes advocates (such as her "do no harm" policy--I just don't think sitting back is a feasible option), but she knows Afghans better than almost any other Western reporter and argues ferociously against the patronizing claims that Afghans are inherently tribalistic or backwards. As a very wise person once told me, "on the big questions, Chayes gets it right."

Finally, a few good links from Abu Muqawama debating how to win in Afghanistan.