Dan Brumberg, Co-Director of the Democracy and Governance Program at Georgetown University and Acting Director of the Muslim World Initiative at the United States Institute of Peace, argues that the US faces a no-win situation in Afghanistan as more US troops alone is not sufficient to defeat the Taliban:

the battle against the Taliban cannot be won by American (or other Western) soldiers and pilots…there must be a political solution that unites all factions behind a government widely seen as both effective and legitimate.

Brumberg contends that Afghani leaders, especially President Karzai, have not been serious about addressing these issues.  He concludes:

This may be a no-win situation…we cannot stay but we cannot go. This is the great conundrum that President Obama faces as its pulls U.S. troops out of Iraq and into Afghanistan.

Not all agree with Brumberg’s conclusion that we cannot leave.  As I wrote in a recent post, knowledgeable people on Afghanistan are beginning to suggest that US interests do not require that we defeat the Taliban.  See, for example, discussions at Abu Muqawama and Democracy Arsenal.