In the Arena

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The troubles in Afghanistan.

It appears that Andrew Exum, who has been part of McChrystal’s kitchen cabinet of civilian advisers, is thinking along the same lines.

Update: Max Boot disagrees, but it’s interesting: he offers zero analysis of the current predicament. Just blind faith that “where there’s a will, there’s a way.” This is an essential part of the neoconservative delusion: only what the U.S. does matters. One of the reasons why Counterinsurgency made so much sense–and still does, but probably not in Afghanistan–is that it took U.S. military thinking to a new level of sophistication and acknowledged that what the local people thought about the U.S. presence, and were willing to do for themselves, were essential parts of the equation. Boot doesn’t acknowledge that at all; or, if he does, I haven’t seen him describe how it applies in this situation.