U.S. commander in Afghanistan Gen. Stanley McChrystal once used the term ‘government in a box’ to describe his ill-fated plan to deliver instant governance when his forces drove the Taliban out of the town of Marjah. Syria’s transition may be just, if not more, as complicated. It appears increasingly far-fetched to imagine that political authority could simply pass from Assad to the rebellion without triggering potentially catastrophic fallout. The range of political options now being considered by Western and Arab opponents of Assad suggests a growing awareness that regardless of Assad’s personal fate, stopping Syria’s civil war may require some form of political compromise.
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