Foreign Policy

Some New Ideas Regarding the Afghanistan Situation

Leslie Gelb has some really good stuff — a novel approach — in a recent New York Times op-ed:

Our strategy in Afghanistan should emphasize what we do best (containing and deterring, and forging coalitions) and downgrade what we do worst (nation-building in open-ended wars). It should cut our growing costs and secure our interests by employing our power more creatively and practically. It must also permit us — and this is critical — to focus more American resources and influence on the far more dire situation in Pakistan.