Word: border
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...America's other war, in Afghanistan. Obama wants to send tens of thousands of U.S. and NATO troops there, expand the Afghan army and dispatch boatloads of Western civilians to help build a governmental infrastructure that actually works. He also wants a high-octane diplomatic push across the border into Pakistan, which al-Qaeda and the Taliban have made their home base...
...still needs to define victory down. Afghanistan is bigger and more populous than Iraq, with harsher terrain and a literacy rate one-third as high. It has no real history of centralized government; a fictional border with Pakistan, which militants cross with ease; an economy based largely on drugs; and a leader who--although still popular in the U.S.--is widely considered a disaster at home...
...against al-Qaeda--to retaliate for 9/11 and eliminate its safe haven--not a war to build a centralized, democratic state in the Hindu Kush, which is a far harder thing. Obama is right to increase America's military, economic and diplomatic muscle in Afghanistan and across the border in Pakistan, but that power surge will work only if he also sets more realistic expectations. Ultimately, the U.S. will have to cut a deal--or lots of little deals--with the bad guys to flip those Taliban members who will renounce al-Qaeda from enemies to allies. That will mean...
...Washington No Pardons On his last full day as President, George W. Bush performed just two acts of clemency: he commuted the sentences of two former U.S. border-patrol agents whose controversial convictions for shooting a Mexican drug smuggler ignited fierce debate over border policies. By comparison, his predecessor, Bill Clinton, granted 140 pardons and 36 commutations on his final day in office...
...Israel win? Depends on how you define win. Some would say that every day the Jewish state continues to exist, grow and even prosper is a victory. It's sobering that both fronts where Israel most recently withdrew to the last inch of the international border--Lebanon and Gaza--are used as staging grounds for launching rockets at our civilians. If we need to fight once every few years, we'll do it. Shuki Raz, RAMAT GAN, ISRAEL...