Surging in Afghanistan

President Bush has announced that he will send additional military forces to Afghanistan (The New York Times – 8,000 Troops to Leave Iraq Next Year):

President Bush has accepted the recommendation of his senior civilian and military advisers to reduce the number of American troops in Iraq by 8,000 in the early months of next year. [...] Mr. Bush also announced a decision to increase American force levels in Afghanistan by about 4,500 troops. “The president's decision paves the way for us to get even more troops out of Iraq this year and into Afghanistan,” said Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary. “So the progress our forces are making in Iraq continues to pay big dividends for the commanders in Afghanistan.”

For those still accustomed to thinking about Afghanistan as being safely in the win column I recommend this 2007 Foreign Affairs essay “Saving Afghanistan,” in which Barnett R. Rubin, Director of Studies and a Senior Fellow at New York University's Center on International Cooperation, warned that Afghanistan was at risk of collapsing into chaos and urged Washington to rethink its strategy and increase its commitment to the country.