Alternative Strategies for Afghanistan

Andrew Exum posted on a Center for American Progress panel discussion for political strategies in the Afghan War. If you are interested in watching the discussion, you can view it here.

One of the featured panelists, Gilles Dorronsoro, wrote an amazing paper earlier this year that intelligently argues for a reduced troop presence.

His key conclusions:

• Objectives in Afghanistan must be reconciled with the resources available to pursue them.
• The mere presence of foreign soldiers fighting a war in Afghanistan is probably the single most important factor in the resurgence of the Taliban.
• The best way to weaken, and perhaps divide, the armed opposition is to reduce military confrontations.
• The main policy objective should be to leave an Afghan government that is able to survive a U.S. withdrawal.
• Strategy should differentiate three areas and allocate resources accordingly: strategic cities and transportation routes that must be under total Afghan/alliance control; buffers around strategic areas, where NATO and the Afghan Army would focus their struggle against insurgents; and opposition territory, where NATO and Afghan forces would not expend effort or resources.
• Withdrawal will allow the United States to focus on the central security problem in the region: al-Qaeda and the instability in Pakistan.

You can download "Focus and Exit: An Alternative Strategy for the Afghan War" here.