Lieberman: 5 Surges for Afghanistan

Senator outlines plan to empower moderate Muslims, win war
By Gabriel Winant,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 6, 2009 12:12 PM CST
Lieberman: 5 Surges for Afghanistan
In this 2005 file photo, a U.S. soldier walks past local workers at a construction site at the U.S. air base at Manas international airport, 30 kilometers from the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek.   (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev, File)

It’s going to be a difficult slog, bound to get worse before it gets better, but we must win the war in Afghanistan, writes Joe Lieberman in the Wall Street Journal. If we follow his prescriptions, he writes, we can empower moderates and make Afghanistan an al-Qaeda “graveyard” where “dreams of an Islamic empire are finally buried.” Lieberman recommends five “surges” in addition to the coming troop increase.

  1. “Strategic coherence” surge: We've done a lousy job so far in integrating civilian and military strategy. Time to fix that.
  2. “Civilian capacity” surge: Our embassy needs to be bigger and better.
  3. “Afghan military” surge: Let’s help get the Afghan army up to 200,000 or more.
  4. “Regional strategy” surge: Afghanistan’s neighbors are tampering; let’s empower Kabul to toss them out.
  5. “Political commitment” surge: People will whisper that the war is unwinnable. We have to ignore them.

(More Afghanistan stories.)

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