It is quite telling that if President Obama had to construct a strategy for defeat, it would not differ from what he and his aides describe as America’s way forward.

February and March were bad months for the Western presence in Afghanistan. First the accidental burning of the Quran and then a lone soldier’s massacre of Afghan civilians undercut U.S. efforts to win Afghan hearts and minds.

The United States will begin to abandon Afghanistan yet again in July 2011, and it will not bode well for the war on terrorism.

It is not too late for the president to recognize the psychological aspect of the surge and state clearly that he will settle for nothing less than victory; until he does, U.S. servicemen on the front lines will pay the price.

The finite commitment to counterinsurgency in Afghanistan and Pakistan that President Obama has announced gives the dangerous impression to our enemies that we are not fully committed to victory.

Liberals and libertarians may vilify President Bush and Vice President Cheney, but dictators and terrorists now think twice about attacking the United States. Killing Americans again has a cost.

Why does Iran consider Afghanistan so important? What are Iran's strategic aims in Afghanistan?

A review of The Man Who WouldBe King by Ben MacIntyre Farrar.