Afghan President Hamid Karzai pursued peace many times in his life way starting long before he was Afghan President when fighting broke out between rebels as soon as the Soviets left. He isn’t seen as a peace leader do to the assumption that non-Westerners can’t be peace activists and the awkward circumstances in each situation.

The Afghan War may be like a roach glue trap where there is no way to win anything and no way to get out. However, Karzai comes from an intellectual background. He married his wife a fellow intellectual not a slave. He has a lot of political skill. I trust he is more likely to know what’s best in relation to what is possible than anyone else.

It’s been a busy few weeks for diplomatic engagement in Afghanistan. First Karzai’s meeting with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, then the US-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue, and now this week French President Sarkozy is in Washington for a meeting with Obama, and the main topic of discussion will be Afghanistan. The AP reports…

What do the negotiations between Karzai and Hizb-i-Islami mean to the anti-war movement? What can we learn from Hekmatyar’s 15-point peace plan? The current strategy is certain to fail, so how do we replace it with our own plan?

HR 248 failed because it only called for withdrawal and did not address any other concerns with Afghanistan. What are some better policy solutions to put forward on Afghanistan, be it on human rights, terrorism, good governance, or any other concerns?