RE “ENVOY dissents on troop boost’’ (Page A3, Nov. 12): It is heartening to hear another dissenting voice on the proposed troop buildup in Afghanistan, but Karl Eikenberry, US ambassador to Afghanistan, doesn’t go far enough. Betting on a weak, corrupt central government to build up sound governing institutions and strengthen military and paramilitary forces is delusional. It’s not going to work, no matter how many troops we send in.
It’s a bad situation, but there’s nothing to be done about it except abandon military actions soon and do our best with intelligence and special operations to protect ourselves from imminent terrorist attacks. The Taliban are often nasty people, but, in themselves, no more constitute a direct threat to us or our allies than did Saddam Hussein.
It is heartbreaking to think of what we could do with the resources that are wasted in these two wars.
Stanley Eskin
Brookline 
