Obama's Afghan Can Opener...

What's the connection between a desert island, a chemist, an engineer, an economist (all three marooned on the island), some cans of food, an absent can opener, the Afghan National Army (ANA) and Obama? In Tony Karon's excellent (and slightly humourous) analysis, the ANA is Obama's exit strategy, the can opener the three shipwrecked don't have (but neither does Obama).

Faced with rapidly decreasing approval ratings of 'Obama's War' and the US public increasing demands for guarantees that this conflict will not be open-ended, Obama now needs an exit strategy. And so, much hope is pinned on the ANA as Afghanistan's can opener. But does the can opener really exist? According the Karon and his quoted sources, to state so would be "somewhat fanciful". The whole piece is very well worth reading but you might want to watch the following Grauniad video first: US soldiers view their Afghan counterparts as ill-disciplined, badly led and with a crippling taste for hashish.

Ultima ratio Regis it ain't...