I should add a couple of things. I consider the poppy eradication to be one of the most stupid blunders in any of the hard work so far in Iraq or Afghanistan (and have said so on my site). Take careful note that (1) the Marines have specifically stated that they aren't after poppy - they are after Taliban, and they ignored the poppy in the Helmand Province, (2) poppy is giving way to wheat as the money crop all over Afghanistan. The market is taking care of it. We shouldn't confuse the warr on terror with the war on drugs. As for cash influx to the Taliban, it really doesn't matter if the farmers grow wheat or poppy. It's a cash crop, and if the Taliban take a cut of the profit, the problem is the Taliban, not the crop. Again, dumb idea, destroying the crops of farmers. But this strategy was approved all the way up through McNeill. I simply don't get it.

Next, I want to see all troops home as quickly as possible (of course I do - I have a son in this fight). But what I wish for and what will happen are two different things.

Finally, use of the term "60 years" in the article is for literary affect. We don't know what the situation will look like in 6 years.

Although it should also be pointed out that being in SK for 60 years has led to the implementation of the ridiculous "sunshine diplomacy" of SK. Welfare, just on an international scale. Counterinsurgency may take longer than a few months, but international welfare can last a century.