In the wake of General McChrystal's firing, supporters of his counterinsurgency strategy have shifted to the blame game. Their target? US Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry. But is Eikenberry really at fault, or has he been right all along?
A new RAND report recommends a US-Pakistan nuclear deal, modeled after a similar agreement with India, as part of the US counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan. And that's just crazy.
As the US campaign in Helmand and Kandahar, blame has increasingly shifted toward allies like NATO, Karzai, and Pakistan. The US wants them to "do more." But they are doing more. The problem is not our allies, but the war itself.
Counterinsurgency doctrine is the symptom of an idea more primeval and dangerous: violence is the solution.
The problem in Afghanistan is not picking the right or wrong counterinsurgency strategy, but picking any military strategy at all.