The South of Afghanistan - a Sand Trap?

If Alexander the Great learned after winning a battle in Afghanistan that the only winning strategy there was to leave, why can't we?

clipped from circlingthelionsden.blogspot.com Dorronsoro says that the main driver of the insurgency is not the political programme of the Islamist radicals, but local conflicts (many of which have an ethnic component) that have been allowed to flourish through government inaction, incompetence and corruption. There is much to recommend Dorronsoro's analysis. Unfortunately, it would appear that battle lines have been drawn and that a re-emphasis on the North would now look like a defeat. We are reminded of one of the oldest laws of warfare - know your enemy.