What to do in Afganistan?

Tho I am not that versed about Afghanistan, I do know that no foreign occupation has ever been able to install a national government. Afghanistan is a collection of different tribal sects that have warred or semi-peacefully coexisted for millenniums. The shear force of the Soviet Union's occupation failed, with a little help to Osama Bin laden's gorilla organization and Afghan resistance fighters by USA.

The Bush administration took its eye off the target of depleting Al-Qaeda's resources and personnel and teaching the Taliban to not harbor terrorists. For 8 years the conflict has simmered with the Taliban reconstituting its forces and using the NATO's occupation as a recruiting tool for fighters.

The Washington Post story about the resignation of a top State Department official in Afghanistan underscores this issue.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/26/AR2009102603394.html?hpid=topnews&sid=ST2009102603447

Obama has been handed a very bad situation. We have a lose - lose situation in that we still need to contain Al-Qaeda so they are not a threat to our security and now we need to deal with the Taliban, that we thought had been destroyed. The central government is ineffective and corrupt and not worth American lives to support. It will never gain control over the larger part of the country side and will only control maybe a small area in Kabul. The class struggle and civil war can not be won by American's or NATO.

So the question is, how do we withdraw from Afghanistan and how do we contain Al-Qaeda and how do we obtain security in Pakistan?

Pakistan is a very big equation in this problem. A destabilized Pakistan could erupt into nuclear war between its neighbors, especially India, that would then possibly bring Iran into conflict. From their we could see Russia protecting its border and Providences, plus its economic ties to Iran by getting involved. What would NATO do then?

I can see why Obama is taking his time in analyzing all his options. Either way, he will lose in the political arena. It is also going to take a lot of diplomatic activity to pull off a withdrawal of any sort to get stability in that region. NATO members are going to have to be a big player in these diplomatic transactions to make it work to any meaningful level. Fortunately Obama is much better at diplomacy than George W ever thought of being. So there is a chance for such action. Militarily we can't win in Afghanistan, over the centuries the British tried, the French tried, the Soviet Union tried, and now we have tried for 8 years and nothing has changed since Roman's conquered the world.

Granted that the Taliban were brutal tyrants, especially regarding women. But remaining there for that purpose is Noble, but unsustainable. Before 9/11 we tolerated the Taliban because it was at least a stable government and reduced the poppy growing. The violations of human rights is a big issue that the world court and the UN needs to address with them and other tyrannical governments around the world. Can we turn our backs on the women in the bigger cities who for now are enjoying more freedom and education or do we leave, thereby these women will return to the oppression of the tyrannical powers of the Taliban?

What's your opinion?