Op-ed: Un-Surge from Afghanistan

The White House just finished its third review of policy in Afghanistan and Pakistan and it generally argued that we’re making good progress there. But in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece, the Council on Foreign Relations’ Richard Haass says there is very good reason to be skeptical about this update, since it dramatically underplays Pakistan. Haass writes that the review overlooks the weakness of Afghanistan's government and the Taliban’s use of Pakistan as their sanctuary. In addition, he points to the incredible cost of having the 100,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan: Taxpayers are paying between $100 billion and $125 billion a year, and nearly 500 soliders were killed this year.