Rolling Out the Red Carpet for Karzai

Afghan President Hamid Karzai's visit to Washington this week offers the Obama administration an opportunity to address one of the weakest links in its Afghanistan strategy—the lack of a coherent plan for what the United States and its Afghan and international partners aim to leave behind in Afghanistan.

Nearly nine years into the war, we lack clear answers to two fundamental questions: How does this war end? What is the desired sustainable end state in Afghanistan?

Recent briefings, meetings, and congressional testimony with officials in the Obama administration and visiting Afghan officials have left me not much clearer about the answers to those two questions—and this week is an excellent opportunity for the Obama administration and visiting Afghan officials to answer these two questions.

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This article was originally published in Foreign Policy.