July 30, 2008 1:07PM

Building Afghanistan

By Benjamin H. Friedman

Building a state in Afghanistan is the job of the Afghans. The United States can help, especially with infrastructure projects and military training, but our principle objective there should not be counter‐insurgency, but counter‐terrorism. That mission requires no surge in American or NATO forces.

Don’t take it from me, take it from Rory Stewart, the crazy Scotsman and former employee of the British Foreign Office, who walked across Afghanistan in 2002 with a dog, lived to write a great book about it, and now lives in Kabul.

Stewart’s article is latest in an outbreak of Afghanistan surge skepticism.

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