John Nagl, Bill Mayville and Stan McChrystal make a good argument for a counterinsurgency campaign, while Andrew Bacevich and an especially pithy Celeste Ward make a good argument against
pursuing such a campaign. All sides, in other words, acquit themselves
rather well. All sides, that is, save for the Pakistani officials. An
American watching this documentary might be of two minds as to whether
or not we should pursue a counterinsurgency campaign in Afghanistan,
but he or she will also be of two minds as to why we continue to send
so much money and other resources to a country whose leaders are either
lying or delusional about the presence of anti-Government of
Afghanistan insurgent groups -- such as the Quetta Shura Taliban and
the Haqqani Network -- in Pakistan. The judgment of the documentary's
producers seems to be that Pakistan is more an enemy of the United
States than an ally.
