For all the talk about Afghanistan being the "right war," and with both Obama and McCain insisting that they want to send thousands of additional US forces there, our British allies have let the camel, so to speak, out of the bag.  

Meanwhile, more and more information is coming out to confirm that the government of Afghanistan is negotiating with (gasp!) the Taliban. This is important stuff. First, here are the quotes from British Ambassador Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, whose leaked comments in a French cable were reported at the end of last week. In them he says that sending more troops to Afghanistan would make the problem worse, not better, and that the NATO forces in Afghanistan are "part of the problem, not part of the solution":  

"The current situation is bad, the security situation is getting worse, so is corruption, and the government has lost all trust. ... The presence of the coalition, in particular its military presence, is part of the problem, not part of its solution. Foreign forces are the lifeline of a regime that would rapidly collapse without them. As such, they slow down and complicate a possible emergence from the crisis. ...  

Brits Say: We Can't Win in Afghan 

elsewhere ….. 

The United Nations' top envoy to Afghanistan said on Monday that the country's conflict could not be won 'militarily' and said that success is only possible through dialogues and 'political means'.  

'We all know that we cannot win it militarily. It has to be won through political means. That means political engagement,' Kai Eide, UN special envoy to Afghanistan, told a press conference in Kabul.

Top UN envoy In Afghanistan Says War Can't Be Won "Militarily"