Blackwill, recalling the Iraq debate on same, predicts partitioning of Afghanistan
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 12:10AM 
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Per my Esquire Politics Blog post of yesterday, former ambassador to India Robert Blackwill argues in Politico:
The US polity should stop talking about timelines and exit strategies and accept that the Taliban will inevitably control most of its historic stronghold in the Pashtun south . . . But Washington could ensure that north and west Afghanistan do not succumb to jihadi extremism, using US air power and special forces along with the Afghan army and like-minded nations.
Blackwill admits nobody much would like this, meaning both Karzai and Pakistan would resist for obvious reasons (Karzai wants the pretense of ruling over the entirety of Afghanistan and Pakistan wants the Pashtun to recapture the whole and not just the south), but at least it would make explicit the reality that we'll be spending years pounding the south with military strikes in order to keep the al-Qaeda-Taliban nexus in their box.
The value? Nation-building in the north can work and this way we admit that doing the same in the south cannot, so long as Pakistan seeks "strategic depth" via the Pashtun. In short, we admit Afghanistan is a fake state, but, by doing so, we suggest the same about Pakistan.
Down with the Durand Line! Long live Pashtunistan!
Reader Comments (2)
I'm not clear, are you for partitioning ?
Making them a state may make it easier
to deal with them.
Fixed defenses. Stronger borders.
G
I have indicated repeatedly in the past that I think some "soft border" solution must come for both Pashtun lands and Kashmir. Musharraf spoke about the latter. Not aware of anyone in Pakistan arguing for the former.