D minus 9: Afghanistan and the WOT

I think we need to change a couple things with Afghanistan and overall a complete change on the War on Terror (WOT). John McCain says he wants to apply a Surge™ tactic (because really, he only knows tactics; he has demonstrated no observable understanding of 'strategy' that I've ever seen) in Afghanistan. I, and pretty much anyone that thinks beyond the concept of a "victory or bust" mentality thinks a military build-up will not work there, just ask the Russians. We may be in deeper trouble if we think we can win hearts and minds there too. What is our objective there? There is only one: Kill Bin Laden. I honestly think we could just put a bounty on his head, say for how much it costs us to be there for a week, $469 million, and the guy sitting next to him in that cave is going to off him and bring us his body. Of course, we'll have to figure out how we can prove it, but I think it will turn up Bin Laden dead or alive eventually. The Pakistani government has armed tribal militias in hope that they can defeat the Taliban and Al Qaeda, which may work, if they had some other incentive beyond defense or "because it's the right thing to do". I still think a bounty on the Bin Laden's head is the only way. After that goal is accomplished, or more likely during that drive, I would turn the entire war on terror into a international police investigation ran by an international police force, perhaps Interpol (are they still around?) or a UNBI(united nations bureau of investigations) that will tackle this as a crime on humanity. And drop the W from WOT. Perhaps change it to Task Force of Criminal Terrorism (FTCT).

Oh, and we really need to help Afghanistan change their cash crop options, Opium farming needs to be replaced with something they can make money and sustain themselves on.

So, those three things:

1. Put a Bounty on Bin Laden
   
2. Find a replacement to Opium farming
   
3. Treat terrorism as a crime investigated, policed and enforced by international policing and courts.
   

I would hope the next administration would listen to me, but I think they have their own agenda. This is another area we have screwed up under Bush/GOP. It needs to be taken care of quickly and creatively, and get our soldiers and money out of there.