Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf Rejects Afghanistan Time Limits

Pervez Musharraf, the former president of Pakistan, writes in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal that "the exit strategy from Afghanistan must not and cannot be time related." Musharraf argues that the United States had the support of the Afghan people after "liberating" them from the Taliban in 2001, but that popular opinion turned sour when the victory did not lead to a stable, representative government. Now, the former president says, the United States must create a "political surge" in addition to the troops President Obama has promised.

"A military solution alone cannot guarantee success," Musharraf writes. "Armies can only win sometimes, and at best, create an environment for the political process to work. At the end of the day, it is civilians, not soldiers, who have to take charge of their country."

Musharraf urges the Obama administration not to base its judgments in Afghanistan on time limits.

"Pakistan and Afghanistan were shortsightedly abandoned to their fate by the West in 1989, in spite of the fact that they were the ones who won a victory for the Free World against the Soviet Union. This abandonment led to a sense of betrayal amongst the people of the region. For the sake of regional and world peace, let us not repeat the same mistake."