The Times
Jerome Starkey in Kabul

More troops might stop Nato failing in Afghanistan, but they certainly won’t guarantee victory.

General Stanley McChrystal’s new counterinsurgency plan relies on seizing the initiative and reversing “insurgent momentum,” which has seen violence spread across parts of the country thought of as safe just a few months ago.

More troops will help him do that. But security is only one part of the problem. While more boots on the ground will let General McChrystal better execute a doctrine of “protecting the people” rather than hunting down Taleban or controlling territory, soldiers alone can’t solve the cancerous government corruption, nor the woeful state of rural development.

A senior Western doplomat said: “The strategy Nato has come up with is a military strategy which references governance and development. But we’ve got to come up with a political strategy to address the unpopularity of the government, which is a driving force for the insurgency.”

People giddy with optimism in 2001, when the Taleban fell, have grown weary of broken promises, civilian casualties and a government that steals everything from road tolls to elections. (Read more)