How to stop the Taliban surge

“There is no more time to waste” in Afghanistan, said The New York Times in an editorial. With the ambush by resurgent Taliban forces that killed 10 French paratroopers near Kabul this week, this is shaping up to be the deadliest year of the war for U.S. and NATO forces. “Unless the United States, NATO, and its central Asian allies move quickly, they could lose this war.”

The question is what the West should do now, said Rémy Ourdan in the French daily Le Monde. In Washington, the common wisdom is that it will take an Iraq-like surge to get the upper hand on the Taliban and al Qaida. Others think it’s time to let spies, special forces, and the Afghans handle the job, but any improvement will be temporary as long as the enemy has a sanctuary in Pakistan.

Pointing the finger at Pakistan won’t “do the security situation any good,” said Kabul’s Daily Outlook Afghanistan in an editorial. It’s true that Pakistan’s ceasefire with terrorists in its tribal areas has allowed the Taliban and al Qaida to send more fighters over the border, but there’s no way to end the “galloping violence” without stepping up the fight against the enemy inside Afghanistan.

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French President Nicolas Sarkozy set an example of resolve that other leaders should follow, said the Toronto Globe and Mail in an editorial. His country was in mourning and his reputation was on the line for sending an additional 700 troops to Afghanistan this year, but he responded to the attack by hurrying to Afghanistan to tell his countrymen to fight on. Such words are “an important weapon” in the war.