The Middle Path in Afghanistan

A smart, sensible essay from Ilan Goldenberg at Democracy Arsenal arguing for a Middle Path in Afghanistan, well worth a read. I think my biggest objection is that he's proposing a Buddhist solution for an Islamic country. Other than that, it's hard to argue with it.

There are really no attractive options in Afghanistan. The maximalist approach assumes unlimited resources and political will, and the minimalist approach probably underestimates what a determined America can accomplish. As Goldenberg points out, the risk of a middle path is that it will be just enough to accomplish nothing. But it also might give us the breathing room necessary to regionalize the solution -- by which I mean getting Iran, Russia and China (and from what I've been reading, Saudi Arabia) involved in the stabilization effort. It also puts off for the moment the troubling humanitarian consequences of a precipitous withdrawal.

That still leaves the internal tension of our counterterrorism and counterinsurgency campaigns, which I discussed yesterday on France 24, and Fred Kaplan writes about insightfully at Slate. For an even more complex analysis, here's what one of Laura Rozen's sources had to say over at War and Piece:

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