The articles referred to in my previous post are "NATO’s Lost Cause," by Tariq Ali: <http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/06/12/9577/>; and "The dream of Afghan democracy is dead," by Anatol Lieven: <http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4fa6b008-3817-11dd-aabb-0000779fd2ac.html>.