US Troops Surge in Afghanistan: The not so “New Way Forward in Afghanistan”

The long-awaited new strategy on Afghanistan seems to be an ill-fated reproduction of the strategy employed in Iraq. Not only does it take for granted that the Iraqi case is successful in the long run, but it also fails to grasp the fundamental differences between the two cases. Most importantly, although it notes the interconnection between Afghanistan and Pakistan, it fails to address the latter properly. Consequently, even a limited-aims strategy of defeating al-Qaeda and entering a political compromise with the Taliban seems unattainable.