President Barack Obama soon decides whether to send even more troops to Afghanistan, despite narrowing our purpose there to the prevention of terrorist nests.
Here's an idea, Mr. President: Why not just bribe the Afghan war lords to keep the terrorists out? They could even be our proxies against the Taliban. This is more or less where our policy was heading until Obama decided to escalate our military presence.
The war lords are only interested in keeping control of their turf. Guarantee them that and provide incentives to run off the terrorists when they come around. They also have no interest in supporting national government, whether it's run by our puppets or the Taliban. So, pay them off to oppose the Taliban.
War lords being, well, war lords, they're not a trustworthy bunch. Some will surely lie to us. But we have the technology for monitoring them. A quick visit from one of our predators could help keep a duplicitous war lord in line. The same goes for any terrorist camps that spring up.
However messy and imperfect this plan might be, it would be cheaper than maintaining tens of thousands of troops and even more private contractors on the ground trying in vain to build a Jeffersonian Democracy. It just seems misguided to engage in nation building for the limited purpose of disrupting terrorists.
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However, I would hire the Taliban as well to keep "Al's Kayda" from opening up shop. The war lords and taliban could then figure how they are going to cut the cake, once Al's kids are put to sleep.
The problem is that the Pastuns are by far the largest and most powerful tribe in Afghanistan, comprising some 55% of the population, and the Taliban is their vehicle. You can't 'keep them out' of afghanistan because ARE afghanistan.
The warlords you're talking about are a grab bag of Tajiks, Uzbeks, Turkmen and Azeris, all of whom are small minorities. Last time they had control of the south (after the Soviet retreat) they waged a campaign of rapes and murders so serious that the locals turned to the taliban to drive them out.