What's Wrong with This Statement.

Rajiv Chandrasekaran has a good article about the differing interpretations of President Obama's Afghanistan strategy in today's Washington Post. It's a good analysis of some likely policy contradictions.

This quote appears on page four:

"Winning means we hand off to a security force that can secure the country," the senior Pentagon official said. "We've separated the enemy, we've connected the people to the government, and we're helping them to rebuild their economy. It's at that point that we begin to transition it over to them."

These words easily encapsulate everything that is wrong with American policy in Afghanistan. The problem begins and ends with "we". WE cannot separate the enemy from the people; THEY are the people. WE cannot connect people to their government; only THEY can do that.

You'd think we would have learned this long ago.