Winning the War in Afghanistan

[Steve the Planner]

Beetle:

It's pretty amazing to me to see Eide's take on Afghanistan---which Di Carlo says the White House embraces:

Taliban influence has spread recently to the north and center of the nation, Eide said, because of imbalances in development efforts.

“Before leaving for New York, I asked a number of Afghan politicians why the insurgency has spread,” Eide said. “One element mentioned by all was the neglect of stable provinces in the allocation of development resources. For that neglect we now pay a high price.

DiCarlo said the U.S. backs recommendations by Ban and Eide to strengthen UN assistance to Afghanistan, including through the appointment of a senior civilian official within the military command.[/QUOTE]

OK, so now we will have another senior civilian, but within the military command.

I went back and looked at your's, mine and Bruce's comments from the Iraq Civilian Thread.

Everything was about the things Eide was addressing, but none of it had anything to do with needing a new senior civilian.

Sounded more like a CORDS approach where civilian practitioners, linked closely to local, regional and national efforts, were taking on an earnest and serious effort to create, improve, drive civilian efforts.

But I don't see that happening yet. Maybe...

Steve