Local security forces do not offset the risks incurred by premature withdrawal of combat forces from Afghanistan. In fact, premature withdrawal of combat forces undermines the local security effort.

The White House hopes that a smooth transition will help them to begin drawing down American forces this summer and end the foreign combat mission in Afghanistan by 2014. But the withdrawal begins at a time when security is worse than it has been in nine years.

An accelerated growth plan for Afghan national forces if very likely to allow coalition forces, including American reinforcements, to begin reducing their footprint without compromising their gains.

While America's efforts to build the Iraqi and Afghan armies have captured headlines, the creation of effective, uncorrupt, and nonsectarian police forces is arguably an even greater challenge for the United States in the war on terror. Lying uneasily at the intersection of development and security policy, U.S. and international...

We must go to war with the partners we have, not necessarily the ones we would like to have.

It is too soon to know what General Stanley McChrystal might ask for, but any sound strategy to achieve the president's stated goals in Afghanistan will require more forces.

Our principal recommendation is that the United States and its allies should continue the strategy now being executed, which is the only approach that can secure the vital national security interests in Afghanistan.