The future of AfPak II

On a somewhat more elevated level than GrEaT sAtAn"S gIrLfRiEnD's interview with Major Mike (see below), Andrew Exum and Max Boot are throwing digits at one another over the American role in Afghanistan. Mr. Exum, who posts under under the nom du web of Abu Muqawama, started the exchange on June 16 by suggesting than the 'Stan was "the graveyard of assumptions." He listed some of those assumptions (for example, that the war is simply a clash between the Hamid Karzai government and the Taliban) and argued that each was wrong. Mr. Boot fired back the very same day: "where there's a will, there's a way." (It used to be that we all read the New York Times, and as a result we all thought the same way, though we might reach different conclusions. Now we all read the same blogs.)

Mr. Exum updated his blog post in response. Mr. Boot  fired back: "Yes, we can" win in Afghanistan, because the people prefer the Karzai government, with all its warts, to the Taliban. Unlike most revolutionaries (Lenin, Castro, Mao, Ho....) the Taliban have been in power before, and the people didn't like it. And again, Mr. Exum updated his blog--a pity he didn't argue at more length. It's an argument worth having, though it seems to me that the end result of Max Boot's faith in the power of national will is simply to pour more of America's treasure and youth into the Afghan graveyard. That's a long distance from Major Mike's notion that we should pull out the troops and let the Green Berets have a got at it. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford