NOBEL PEACE PRIZE UPDATE: Could US Troops Stay in Afghanistan Past 2016?

President Obama has set the date for total U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan for 2016. But according to General John Campbell, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, America’s longest war could go on a bit longer. . . .

While concerns about precipitous American military withdrawal are exacerbated by recent experiences in Iraq and the rise of ISIS, the situation in Afghanistan seems different. Where Nouri al-Maliki was a deeply divisive Prime Minister presiding over a deeply divided country, Ashraf Ghani apparently enjoys an approval rating as high as 86%. While the Taliban controls large swathes of territory, violence remains high, and the opium trade is out of control, there is less concern in Afghanistan about rapid collapse of the government or loss of territory. That’s in part because while Sunni-Shia relations in Iraq have been broken for some time, Mr. Ghani has made a point of reaching out to the Taliban to negotiate an end to the fighting.

Hmm.