Haass' latest book "War of Choice, War of Necessity" makes clear Iraq was a war of choice, not necessity. It was also a huge distraction from the Afghan war that got short-changed as hundreds of billions of dollars were poured into the Iraqi conflict.

What is now "necessity" in Afghanistan for Obama is "choice" -- and a bad one at that -- for the American people. But little understood is how it became necessity for the president. He tried to make it palatable to his left wing by saying Afghanistan is where al-Qaida -- the monsters of Sept. 11, 2001 -- were located. Actually, that's where they are not located. They are in Pakistan's tribal areas. But had the president come out against war in Afghanistan during last year's campaign, as he did against Iraq ever since he became a U.S. senator 2005, he most probably would have lost the election. Sen. John McCain would have accused him of weak-kneed pacifism and of adopting the proverbial head-in-sand posture of an ostrich who would then look surprised when it got kicked in the most obvious place.

Now that Afghanistan is Obama's necessary war, what are his chances of emerging as the wise warrior? If he persuades the American people that we are engaged there for the long haul, as we were in Germany and Japan after World War II, there would be a better-than-even chance of developing a viable state sans Taliban. And it would cost hundreds of billions more dollars. But Afghanistan is arguably the world's most backward national entity where warlords remain to be convinced that the United States and its friends and allies hold the winning ticket.

As long as the Taliban and al-Qaida enjoy privileged sanctuaries in Pakistan's tribal areas, the United States and NATO will be stuck in a no-win posture in Afghanistan. But Pakistan's army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and his troops have been busy pursuing Taliban terrorists in Pakistan proper. And the much-promised Pakistani offensive against the Afghan wing of the Taliban in North and South Waziristan, two of the seven tribal agencies, is yet to materialize. The cynics in Pakistan argue the Taliban is bound to wear down the allies in Afghanistan over the long haul. And when the Taliban was last in power in Afghanistan (1996-2001), Pakistan enjoyed a secure western front for its defense in depth against Pakistan's principal military concern -- India.

U.S. Gen. David Petraeus, the Middle Eastern theater commander, believes that the current major Afghan commitment by the democratic camp should continue five to 10 more years -- "whatever it takes." But half the American people are already opposed to the Afghan war and off-year elections are 16 months away. NATO allies and friendly nations engaged there -- a total of 40 countries -- are all eyeing exit expectations by 2011. Few of them are committed to combat against the Taliban insurgency.

NATO's outgoing supreme commander, Gen. John Craddock, now retired, says it took him 18 months to get allies to curtail caveats against offensive operations from 80 to 73. But allies respond Craddock failed to point out the United States also has a monumental caveat: U.S. units are forbidden by law to serve under non-American command. Taliban commanders are skillful at exploiting these caveats.

Afghanistan's much-anticipated elections do not a democracy make. Taliban's bombs-vs.-ballots threats predictably kept the turnout low. But donkeys delivering ballot boxes in the foothills of the Hindu Kush were an important first step on the road out of the Middle Ages. Many nations -- Spain, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan -- have demonstrated that democracy without a prosperous middle class is an exercise in self-delusion. In Afghanistan so far, the only prosperity is in the cultivation of opium poppies. Afghanistan's $3 billion drug trade also funds Taliban insurgents' logistics section. In combat, their weapons are frequently more modern than what the Afghan national army takes into combat.

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