Just worth considering, is that TB senior leadership can continue, and have to answer to Pakistan; or reconcile and seek their own destiny within GIROA free from their current Pakistan strings.

I suspect the recent roll-up of a large chunk of the Qetta Shura was a message from Pakistan to TB senior leadership that "there is no quitting alllowed..."

We'll see. This is more complex and convaluted than any of us can imagine, and the main players probably don't lay awake at night worrying about what the US national interests are in all of this.

I remain with the position that Mr. Karzai's Peace Jirga (and the likely follow-on events) are our last, best bet for an honorable exit strategy that reasonably supports the interests we see to be at stake.