In a recent interview with The New York Times, President Barack Obama said the United States was not winning the war in Afghanistan–but did not use the word “losing”–and he raised the possibility of talking to Taliban and Islamist factions in order to separate them from al Qaeda. The point: to isolate Osama bin Laden’s murderous gang, both geographically and politically. Obama’s remarks have generated much discussion about his policy on Afghanistan, though he does not yet have one. His national security team is in the middle of a review that is due to be completed by the end of the month. Obama has said he will send 17,000 additional US troops to Afghanistan in the spring and summer. But he has not yet said what the overall mission is there. While foreign policy experts and others await the results of the review, there’s still plenty to discuss and ponder, and I did so Tuesday night on Hardball:
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