Goran Tomasevic / Reuters
Noted conservative columnist George Will argues in his new column in The Washington Post that the U.S. should pull out ground troops from Afghanistan—even as the commander there is planning to ask for reinforcements. “[F]orces should be substantially reduced to serve a comprehensively revised policy,” he writes. “America should do only what can be done from offshore, using intelligence, drones, cruise missiles, air strikes and small, potent special forces units, concentrating on the porous 1,500-mile border with Pakistan, a nation that actually matters.” Will also recalls Otto von Bismarck's decision to halt German forces before reaching Paris in 1870, writing: “Genius is not required to recognize that in Afghanistan, when means now, before more American valor… is squandered."