How to Win the War in Afghanistan

Andrew Exum fought in Afghanistan in 2002 and 2004 and returned to serve on Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s initial assessment team in 2009. Over the past two weeks, he has been traveling around Afghanistan interviewing U.S., NATO and Afghan commanders, police and politicians, NGO workers and journalists, and local Afghans. His adviceon how to move forward: cut funding, compromise on combat enablers, reinvent (not replace) the Special Envoy, find and pressure dual citizens, and go long. “Afghans live in fear that the international community will abandon them. Although the Taliban is unpopular, normal Afghans are just trying to survive.”