Afghanistan strategy needs different focus

One year after the U.S. assassination of Osama bin Laden, I’m concerned that our government is still pursuing the same failed war strategy in Afghanistan based on bringing “peace” through fighting and war. As the U.S. and Afghanistan negotiate the terms of their relationship for the next decade, I would urge Congress and the president to abandon the failed war strategy in Afghanistan and focus the U.S. instead toward supporting political negotiations that include all parties to the conflict: Afghanistan’s neighbors — including Iran and Pakistan — and Afghan civil society. I hope that my members of Congress, Rep. Bob Dold and Sens. Dick Durbin and Mark Kirk, will support an end to the war that takes this approach.

Alison Halm

Arlington Heights