Steve Coll, Afghan Sage

The series of posts by Steve Coll that I linked to on this blog before has turned into a very interesting meditation on his part on what the history that he magestically chronicled in Ghost Wars means for our involvement in Central Asia and Afghanistan specifically. When a man who has personal anecdotes of getting shelled in Afghanistan in the late 80's is trying to give advice, I think it is worth listening (especially b/c people with real and deep experience of the country are very rare...). Check out his two most recent posts: "Ink Spots" (a look at the limited success of Soviet counterinsurgency) & "Gorbachev Was Right" (a general look at how Gorbachev framed his exit strategy from Afghanistan).