AP Photo

In his trademark fashion, David Brooks crams a lot of issues into his critique today of US reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan: ambitious government initiatives, social engineering, the poverty-violence link (known in the trade as "greed v. grievance"), the (in)effectiveness of foreign aid, and smart power foreign policy. Whew. Your humble blogger won't attempt to tackle all of these subjects -- nor even offer a verdict on the stabilization efforts in Afghanistan. But I do want to address the question of effectiveness, and its implications for smart power.