Settling the Afghan War

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/23/opinion/23brahimi.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=brahimi&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Wed, Mar 23, 2011 at 10:09 AM
Subject: re: Settling the Afghan War
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    The political solution proposed by Messrs. Brahimi and Pickering to the Afghan war would make sense if the problem were political. Alas, the problem is one of tribal identity rather than of political convictions. The Taliban is an entirely Pashtun movement, seeking to impose the mores of the Pashtun minority on all Afghans.  Afghanistan  will never function as a  legitimate State while  most of the 17million Pashtun there recognize only their own laws.  No application of force or diplomacy can create a legitimate Afghan State. The tribes of Afghanistan much choose to build a State or to go their several ways. It makes no more sense for the U.S. to defend the arbitrary boundaries of Afghanistan than it would to force the Serbs and Croats back into Yugoslavia and tell them to play nice.

Barry Levine