Regarding Afghanistan it seems to me...

[SHRED]

...that the idea of developing a "central government" is tragically laughable yet Obama is sending our men and women in to die for this illusion and people here defend him.

Is my premise off?
Am I wrong here?
Can a workable central government be assembled in 18 months?

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[unhappycamper]

1. If you consider that only 10% of the population is literate, I doubt it.

I see the unrecers were out earlier.

[SHRED]

3. That coupled with...

...a rugged terrain and a scattered/tribal population with very little infrastructure.

They will just wait us out and pick off a few more 100 or 1,000.

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[NJmaverick]

2. The idea is stabilize the nation enough to prevent the unpopular Taliban from returning to power

While a good central government would be nice, it's not critical

[SHRED]

4. How can stabilization be achieved without centralization?

If the country has no central identity or central command for police and military well...?

[NJmaverick]

6. Create a central government that controls the urban centers and develop a series

of local rulers that are sympathetic to or supportive of the urban area central government.

[alcibiades_mystery]

5. I believe this

Anything a bunch of message board people can "come up with" on Afghanistan has been thought through with actual data and expertise by policy experts. Do they think a central government can be formed in 18 months. Probably not. They think a series of conditions that will force hostile parties to enter into less damaging relationships can be developed, and that's probably sufficient.

[Clio the Leo]

7. your premise is off.....

and, unfortunately I'm not where I can expound upon that now, but google news the words obama Afghanistan tribal province etc over the last few months. you'll see the strategy since the election mishap has shifted toward strentheing the provincial leadership away from the central one

[Arctic Dave]

8. To me it seems the goal is to create regional dictators that are loyal to Kabul

and the US. We will give them money and weapons to defend against the Taliban, or we will kill them, seems to be the plan. It seems simple enough but what is to stop them from going to war with each other once we arm them and they get a feel for absolute power.

[tekisui]

9. The government plan is less dubious than the military training.

They can set up rulers that appear effective, if the local people respect their authority. That isn't the impossible part.

What is impossible is building a military and police force from scratch with people that don't trust us in 18 months time. It is a fool's folly.