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With Washington talking about U.S. troops surging in Afghanistan and with Kabul coordinating its post-election game plan, now is the time to ensure that an alternative aid approach is front and center (lest it get tabled again). We know what works in reconstructing and stabilizing this fractured country. The model has spread to all 34 Afghan provinces. It is the National Solidarity Program (NSP), operated out of Afghanistan's Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development. What stands in its way, however, is the lack of international political and economic wherewithal to scale up sufficiently.

The NSP has become the darling of many members of Congress. Stories abound of its efficacy: Schools built by the NSP were sheltered from Taliban torching while schools built more...