Commentaries, Opinions, And Editorials -- July 27, 2010

FUTURE ROAD - U.S. Army 1st Lt. Quentin Cummings and local contractors discuss building a road across the district border of Nejrab and Koh band, east of Durnama village, Kapisa province, Afghanistan, July 22, 2010. Cummings is assigned to the Provincial Reconstruction Team Kapisa. The team's mission is to stabilize the region by enabling local governments to care for, educate, employ and protect their people through the construction of basic infrastructure. U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Joe Laws

Best Course For Dealing With The Taliban: Win, Then Negotiate -- Michael Gerson, Washington Post

The Wikileaks document download -- illustrating Afghan corruption, Pakistani duplicity and Taliban toughness -- revealed little that is new. But it will intensify a popular kind of desperation.

A consensus is growing among foreign policy realists, skittish NATO allies and antiwar activists that the time has come to cut a deal with the Taliban. The Afghan government, they argue, is hopeless; recent elections were discrediting; nation-building has failed. The only hope is to pursue not only reintegration of low- and mid-level Taliban fighters into Afghan society but reconciliation with Taliban leaders based in Pakistan.

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Commentaries, Opinions, And Editorials

Taliban Responds to WikiLeaks -- Mushtaq Yusufzai, The Daily Beast

Leaks further strain U.S. relationship with Pakistan -- Sara A. Carter, Washington Examiner

Wikileaks Afghanistan: What do the leaks really tell us? -- Con Coughlin, The Telegraph

What did we learn from Putin's wild Ukrainian weekend? -- Joshua Keating, Foreign Policy

The US in "China's Lake" -- Willy Lam, Asia Sentinel

Let's hope that China and the United States won't miscalculate -- Joseph S. Nye, The Daily Star

WikiLeaks: Why national security isn't Obama's biggest concern -- Howard LaFranchi, Christian Science Monitor

Eight Problems with the New START -- Mitt Romney, National Review

Mitt Romney's dangerous game -- Daniel Larison, The Week

The New, Improved Obama -- Caroline Glick, Real Clear World/Jerusalem Post