"The United States should redefine its objectives in favor of the Afghan
people, not the Afghan government. In a counter-insurgency, the people
are the proverbial prize. It is only by supporting the Afghan people – not
abusive powerbrokers – in their effort to reconstitute their social,
economic, institutional, and cultural fabric, that stability in Afghanistan can
be achieved, and the country be durably denied as a sanctuary for
terrorists."

This a very interesting paper. Tom Ricks spoke very highly of it on his blog and I was most impressed with it.

One small thing mentioned in the piece that I didn't know is that Afghan farmers can make more growing fruit than they can from opium.

Here is the address:

http://www.sarahchayes.net/images/Af..._plan_0109.pdf

I am very interested to see what others think.