f counter-insurgency is fundamentally about winning hearts and minds, we now have a real chance of success. Trust is being built in the Afghan people’s minds that their own tribal chiefs, district governors and national leaders can start to deliver a better alternative than a reversion to the oppressive and fundamentalist regime of the Taliban and its al-Qaeda sponsors. This offers real hope for the Afghan people. If they are beginning to believe that they have a better future, then that belief must be shared and nurtured.
That is the opportunity for 2011. The risk, however, is of that hope being undermined by a precipitate reduction in our troop levels for domestic political reasons. If the public at home start to understand the progress that is being made, then that temptation will be easier to resist.
Bookmarks