The pity is that Karzai is negotiatingh with the Taliban because there will be no settlement without the Taliban. There can be no political settlement until both sides are deadlocked on the battlefield. Any power-sharing arrangement will involve the Taliban in an integrated army and police.

Think of it, Larry: There are no conditions for a stalemate now. But if there were, not even Karzai and NATO have been able to integrate an effective fighting force, army or police, after five years under the strongest panoply of firepower the world has ever seen. A settlement is more Stone Age.

And so it goes.