A Peace SURGE to End War in Afghanistan:

President Trump has no easy options in Afghanistan. An abrupt United States military exit would probably provoke the collapse of an Afghan state deeply dependent on American backing, while a major reinforcement a reprise of the Obama administration’s initial approach would be tough to support given that it didn’t work last time.

The modest increase of a few thousand troops widely reported to be under consideration promises to do little more than buy time by arresting the downward security slide.

President Barack Obama conducted a “surge” of American military resources in Afghanistan in a bid to turn the corner on the war. But Mr. Obama didn’t complete the subsequent scheduled military withdrawal because the closer the deadlines came, the less tolerable the danger of security collapse became. His administration only tepidly tried to negotiate a political settlement of the conflict.

President Trump could do the opposite: move boldly to negotiate peace, while making a limited additional military investment to deny the Taliban military victory.

The United States does have a policy of pursuing peace. I was responsible for carrying it out until recently. But the United States has never put the political and diplomatic weight behind the initiative needed for success.

The Taliban has long been willing to talk to the United States, but has resisted sitting down with the Afghan government, which it regards as a puppet regime. The Afghan government has been willing to talk to the Taliban, but wants to ensure its legitimacy is not eroded. The United States has worked only in fits and starts to build a format for talks and preliminary understandings to get substantive negotiations going. America’s primary focus on the war has contributed to an inconsistent peace effort.

For all parties to the Afghan conflict, building and sustaining commitment from leaders and support from broader constituencies for pursuing peace has been much harder than continuing the war. Each side wants to negotiate from a position of strength. Skepticism about the enemy’s willingness to negotiate has gotten in the way of willingness to test, probe and risk looking too eager.

A surge of United States commitment to negotiating a political settlement would not remove all the obstacles, but it is a prerequisite. A first step in this direction could be for President Trump to declare publicly his intent to make a peace deal. He could show his readiness to work out the details of a military withdrawal and emphasize the protection of United States national security interests in negotiations.