How do you solve a problem like Afghanistan?

First and foremost you need to show humility. You need to say sorry for the insufficiencies in the original battle plan. Then you need to work out a clear plan which ALL sides take an active role in. No side that truly has an interest in stability in that part of the world can stand on the sidelines.

This means the Americans cannot just expect the Europeans to give more. Nor can the Europeans provide tokenistic gestures and think that that is sufficient.

Next you need to build up the Afghanistan forces, both military and civilian.

Yet you need to take one final action which will not be popular but is the right thing to do: tackle the question of ‘Pakghanisation’ directly.

This doesn’t just mean providing border security. Rather it means taking a more vigorous approach in Pakistan itself.

With the Taliban 60km from Islamabad, rhetoric cannot be the policy. It is true that a dialogue needs to take place between both sides but it should be part of a dual strategy. As part of this policy shift, Pakistan’s education system should see increased funding to stop the rise of the madrassas and attempt to tackle the causes of terrorism as well as the terrorism itself.

The leaches of hatred must not be allowed to infiltrate the minds of the young, poor Pakistanis. As the final part of this strategy you also build up the Pakistani military and civilian forces.

The Afghanistan problem will not be solved by sticking to the path of the last 7 and a half years. If we do not act in the way above, we are only playing lip service to our rhetorical commitment to see Afghanistan’s stand-alone as a stable state and active member of the family of nations.

Afghanistan is not Mission Impossible. If it is we would have left already.