I support U.S. troops no matter where they are deployed. That said, I wonder about a major U.S. military commitment to Afghanistan while other areas of more strategic importance, such as Georgia and Ukraine, lie exposed. We threw out the Taliban government with fewer than 200 special ops forces. Do we really expect decisive victory?

Afghanistan is not a modern nation-state. It’s more like a geographical conglomeration of disparate, migratory tribal and ethnic groups. Those tribal groups migrate across national boundaries at will, including into Pakistan. Aren’t we better off making tribal alliances, arming and equipping our tribal allies as our proxies, keeping the Afghanistan government out of hostile hands, and keeping Afghanistan in play?

By contrast, Pakistan must be a higher priority in the region. Its secret service, ISI, is a large source of our problems in Afghanistan. Someone is supplying the Taliban. We should go after the sources of supply.