October 31st, 2009:

via  Obama seeking options on troops levels in Afghanistan – washingtonpost.com

President Obama has asked the Pentagon’s top generals to provide him with more options for troop levels in Afghanistan, two U.S. officials said late Friday, with one adding that some of the alternatives would allow Obama to send fewer new troops than the roughly 40,000 requested by his top commander…

War in Afghanistan

…Before he can determine troop levels, his advisers have said, he must decide whether to embrace a strategy focused heavily on counterinsurgency, which would require additional forces to protect population centers, or one that makes counterterrorism the main focus of U.S. efforts in the country, which would rely on relatively fewer American troops.

The advisors are saying that Obama must embrace a strategy of either strong counterinsurgency with an escalation of troops, or just plain old counterterrorism strategy with fewer troops, or a combination of both ideas:

One option under review involves a blend of the two approaches, featuring an emphasis on counterterrorism in the north and some parts of western Afghanistan as well as an expanded counterinsurgency effort in the south and east, one of the officials said. Obama has also asked for a province-by-province review of the country to determine which areas can by managed effectively by local leaders.

But there is a third choice, better than war or more war. From Robert Dreyfuss at The Nation:

Accordingly, the first step for Washington must be to abandon the idea of a decades-long counterinsurgency, fire its advocates–including Gen. Stanley McChrystal and Gen. David Petraeus, architect of the Counterinsurgency Field Manual–and admit that the multiheaded insurgency in southern and eastern Afghanistan can’t be defeated by military means…

…Instead, the United States should prepare to channel a substantial flow of international development assistance and humanitarian aid to Afghanistan through a newly reconstructed, rebalanced Afghan government…

…In addition, President Obama should declare that the United States has achieved its principal objective in Afghanistan, namely, the near-total destruction of Al Qaeda as an organization.

Yea. That’s the ticket. It’s time to call the game and turn off the ball park lights and go home. We must reconsider the end game; is there a more attainable status quo than the pie-in-the sky vision of Afghanistan with no heroin poppies and enough peace and love flowing that it would make a hippie blush?

A more sensible view is needed. Stop the war and focus on the humanitarian crisis. They can do airlifts and other missions to get humanitarian aid to the refugees that we created in both Afghanistan and Iraq. We can accept an end game that looks like it does now with Al Qaeda virtually wiped out and also recognize that the Taliban insurgency will continue with or without the United States’ or NATO’s involvement.

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