Neither a picnic nor a Switzerland

[xchrom]

http://www.economist.com/node/18866695

FOREIGNERS have always struggled to exercise any sort of control over Afghanistan. And the war America and its allies embarked on there in 2001 has often seemed as endless and unwinnable as so many previous invasions. But the past few days have seen the American administration attempt to show that it can manage at least the narrative of the war. It wants to turn the story of a grim, inescapable quagmire into one of erratic but irreversible progress towards a resolution acceptable to all. It is a better story, but can it be a credible one?

Killing Osama bin Laden was a huge help. In a sense his death accomplished the primary mission that took America into Afghanistan. But he was killed in Pakistan and most of the 130,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan are not engaged in hunting down al-Qaeda remnants. They are there to stabilise Afghanistan. So when Barack Obama confirmed this week that America will begin drawing down its troops in July, he had to point to progress in Afghanistan itself as well as in killing leading terrorists.

His announcement fulfilled a promise made when he approved a “surge” of 30,000 additional troops in late 2009. Indeed, he said all the surge troops are to be back by September 2012. The plan is to leave the Afghan government responsible for its own security by 2014, through a beefed-up national army, supported by a much-diminished but still large foreign contingent.