Atlantic Community:Global Must Read Article "Using Cultural Cues to Guide an Afghan Exit Strategy"

Using Cultural Cues to Guide an Afghan Exit Strategy

David Ignatius, Washington Post | April 6, 2010

The US is trying to implement its "reconciliation and reintegration" strategy to start to bring the war in Afghanistan to a close. ++ This will involve dialogues between the US, Pakistan, and various Afghan parties including Karzai and the Taliban. ++ Recent military successes should not distract the US from its ultimate goal of transferring power to Afghan security forces. ++ The US is trying to work from the bottom up by working with local tribes. ++ "If war is an extension of politics, then to politics it must return."

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Fri, Apr 9th 2010, 02:38

Patrick Edwin Moran, Wake Forest University, Platinum Contributor (207)

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It is not a good sign that Karzai is offering to make common cause with reactionary Taliban leaders rather than seeking to make more secure the legitimate partisan interests of the groups that participate in the loya jirga of June, 2002 that brought offered him the leadership of Afghanistan. Those groups whom he is seemingly preparing to sacrifice in hopes that a dark alliance will keep him in personal power have now a choice whether to retreat into individual defensive postures or to submerge their differences to maintain the future of their own freedom.

Karzai may call a loya jirga, but those who see it in their interests to oppose a repressive regime can take that opportunity to come together in strengthening constitutional rights that protect the autonomy of individuals and communities. David Ignatius indicates that the U.S. is working constructively in this regard by doing what it can to strengthen local tribes or communities, and, one would hope, to strengthen the cohesive forces among them. It remains an open question whether a perspicacious leadership will emerge that is capable of understanding that no minority is safe unless all minorities are protected.

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Using Cultural Cues to Guide an Afghan Exit Strategy

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