The first thing that has got to be tackled in Afghanistan is the widespread corruption. THat must be done first. And part of the way you get that done is with a massive troop surge. Then you concentrate on changing people’s minds, showing them how to do things for themselves like farming and becoming self-sufficient and rebuilding their infrastructure and then winning over their hearts and their minds and showing them that the Taliban and Al Qaeda are evil and not to be trusted. You help the population develop their own natural resources in a positive way, but the drug trade has got to go because it is that area that is where the majority of the country’s corruption comes from. You get the government to write a new constitution and set up a representative government for all the people the way we did in Iraq. Then hold free and fair elections all over again the way we showed them how to do in Iraq. But it is going to take a massive troop surge in order to get all this done first if we are to win this war.
Afganistan will never have a strong central government and the people really resent large numbers of foreign troops in their country.
Russia pulled out all of the stops in the 80’s including the use of nerve gas, massive numbers of troops couldn’t prop up the communist regime. I’ve met a former Soviet Colonel who lost a leg there and heard some real horror stories.
I still think we’re better off with a fairly large number of special ops, target Taliban commanders and any of the warlords supporting them. Make a few examples. After the Daniel Berg beheading one of the warlords on our side had something like a hundred Taliban executed and had thier heads set on poles to set an example.
Afgans are a proud people and their loyalties are to the clan/tribe etc before any central government.