Unlike the Iraq surge of 2006-2008, the Afghanistan surge is not ending in success. The government does not control Afghanistan’s territory. The Taliban have been neither defeated nor included in a political process. The Afghan security forces have been expanded, but they remain depressingly ineffective and enlistment remains far below the one peacekeeper to 30 civilian rule-of-thumb for counter-insurgency.
Odds are that when the U.S. surge ends, Afghanistan will revert to the conditions that prevailed before the surge: a weak government in Kabul beset by a growing Taliban insurgency in the Pashtun parts of the country.
So you have to wonder: What was the point?
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