Another warning that NATO cannot hope to win in Afghanistan unless it changes its strategy. This time it comes from Afghan expert Barnett Rubin writing in the prestigious journal "Foreign Affairs."
Rubin sees the NATO mission in Afghanistan as essentially doomed to failure unless there is a massive increase in foreign aid, an end to government corruption and destruction of the Taliban bases and command structure in Pakistan.
What Rubin has said isn't really new. I've written pretty much the very same thing in earlier posts on this site. Rubin, however, is an acknowledged authority on Afghanistan and the publication of his views in Foreign Affairs gives them a certain essential gravitas.
Unfortunately it's a Cassandra's warning that is bound to go unheeded. Our political and military leaders are not showing an awareness of these critical faults much less any willingness to see them addressed.
We haven't got remotely enough combat troops on the ground in Kandahar to tackle the existing Taliban threat. How then are we supposed to take on the massive additional responsibilities necessary to create winning conditions? We can't, there's simply no one to see it through.
Rubin is warning NATO what it needs to do to win. The realities that beset NATO and its participating members, however, mean Rubin is merely telling us why we're going to lose in Afghanistan.
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