Quote Originally Posted by jmm99 View Post
Pakistan over Afghanistan - and India over both.
Agreed. We're all paying a financial, political, moral and social cost for the GWOT (or whatever it is called right now) to varying degrees, that's why I (and I reckon the average Canadian/American/Brit) am so frustrated to see how traditional nation-state politics are proving to be so ineffective against the two Talibans and their affiliates/allies/what-have-you. GEN Petreaus has done an amazing job trying to get the people in our countries to accept a longer view and embrace the idea that there are no quick fixes, but it seems to me in my conversation with my fellow citizens that we just keep putting out hands in a bag full of scorpions with our involvement with any Pakistani official or tribal leader and there is nothing we can do about it if we want to keep Afghanistan from getting any worse.

Forgive me for the gross oversimplification, but I would like to see more done to bring about a more stable Pakistan and smash the power of the ISI which seems to be taking aid money from us so they can aid the people who are killing our men and women.

Would it really be so bad if we just let Afghanistan go if we were able to eliminate/convert more of our enemies in nuclear Pakistan?