India's Options within the Afghan Maze

Although General David Petraeus emphatically stated that the United States of America is not in Afghanistan to lose the war, the fact remains that the decade-long war on terror against the Taliban and shadow boxing the al Qaida has lost its aim and purpose, reaching levels of absurdity at a cost of over a trillion dollars and yet the US will not win the war! Every effort of General Petraeus to win will only escalate the conflict and that is not in the best interests of Afghanistan and the US. Thus, President Obama's decision to begin the withdrawal of US troops starting July 2011 is a correct and a common-sense step towards de-escalation. The fear that this will push the country back in time to October 2001 does not arise as it has not moved forward since.