The ends and means of policy are difficult to disentangle in a place as complex and obscure to most Americans as Afghanistan. But clear thinking is essential-even more so than will, determination and boots on the ground, all of which are being alternately challenged and demanded by a growing cacophony of "AfPak" watchers.

Following its predecessor, the Barack Obama administration so far has advanced two aims in Afghanistan, each derivative of the other: to ensure that al Qaeda or similar groups do not use the country as a "base" to harm the US, its allies, or the global interests of either; and to set the country on a path to being governed effectively and "democratically."

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Behind both of these aims is the assumption-also voiced...