Your discussion on Afghanistan left out one key point - the heroin trade. Talking about our Afghanistan policy without considering heroin is like talking about Mideast policy and pretending the Saudis, Iraq and Iran have no oil.

Heroin is the only significant cash crop the Afghans have and it's certainly their major source of foreign exchange, so it cannot be ignored. Moreover its influence on their politics is undoubted. We frequently reads stories reporting that Karzai has important allies among the druglords and that the Taliban depends on heroin for their financing. In other words, heroin contributes to both sides in this struggle. So let's take notice of the elephant in the room if we want to discuss the issue in any meaningful way.

Afghanistan is a hopelessly corrupt narco-state. American foreign poliocy has come to the point that we are deeply involved in supporting a narco-state while fighting its enemies who are also supported by the same drug trade. Only someone completely delusional can tell me how we're supposed to "win" anything in a situation like this.

I'm going to say something very un-American (David Plotz almost said it but he couldn't quite get it out ), but I'll say it so listen up. Some problems have no solutions. Repeat, some problems have no solutions. You can throw all the money in the world at it but it doesn't get solved, and every life spent pursuing the endeavor is a life that could accomplish more doing anything else.

As for John Dickerson's remarks that any change in course by Obama would be seen as a reversal of what he laid out six months ago and that he would suffer politically for this - so what? I voted for the guy because, after eight years of a fool who would never, NEVER, admit a mistake, Obama struck me as someone with the maturity and sense to see an error and own up to it. I'm convinced many Americans saw this quality in him and voted accordingly. Were we wrong?

America needs to get out of Afghanistan now.

Giles Ryan - Bellevue, Washington