Pakistan can save itself. As it does so, Afghanistan becomes more of a sideshow — one that the Taliban can be left to run, because the single sure way of defeating them is to let the endemic chaos of governing the ungovernable do the job. Does that unleash al-Qaeda? Chaos has already cracked that alliance. It won’t come back.
But pulling out, leaving Karzai to his fate, betraying those who’ve trusted you? That’s a hard, hard place. Or sticking in until the blood laps too high and Afghans who just want peace, Taliban peace, at any price, tell you to go? That’s a grisly call, too.
It’s easy to deride presidents when their toddling town doesn’t win instant glory. It’s damnably difficult even to imagine the weight of the decision this president has to make: to stick or twist — and know there’s pain, betrayal and many more rocks either way.
RSS