This is the first of a regular series of blogs that I will be posting, most likely three times a week, on this site. I invite your comments. Your involvement is crucial to establishing a peace environment. What you say and do DOES matter, DOES make a difference.

I don't have to tell you that war is hell, and that there is a lot of hell going on in many places in the world. But, in this blog let's focus on Afghanistan. There's talk of an Iraqi-style Surge possibly to take place. Sure, wars can be won with brute force, but guerrilla warfare requires clever strategy, not just brute force. Besides, shouldn't the goal be to win the peace? Isn't peace supposed to be the result of a war ending? What if we can have peace without hardly any killing taking place? That's how the Cold War ended. That's how the civil war in Northern Ireland ended. 

And, that's basically how the war in Iraq has wound way down to the point that American and coalition troops have been leaving Iraq. Was that due to the success of the Surge? Not really. The Sunni tribal chieftains of al Anbar Province in Iraq realized, a couple of years ago, that the best way to stop the killing, the best way to get ALL foreign troops, insurgents, and terrorists out of the country, was for them to stop providing refuge for the foreign insurgent Sunnis. Those insurgents would blow up Americans and other coalition troops, but they also were killing many thousands of Iraqis, especially Shiites. The Shiites countered with their own insurgents from Iran and elsewhere, and the killing, maiming, and property damage was intense. 

As soon as the tribal chieftains rounded up and ousted the foreign insurgents among them, the whole war began to wind down. Death and destruction were no longer welcome.

Guess what. Afghanistan is also a tribal society with tribal chieftains who really run the show, village by village. What if the tribal chieftains there would come to realize that permitting and sheltering foreign insurgents and terrorists, especially the Pakistani-led Taliban, will keep the war and killing going indefinitely. Once the Taliban are no longer welcome, because the chieftains realize there will never be peace with them there, then ALL foreign mercenaries, including NATO forces, can leave. Yes, the Taliban are a fearsome bunch, but don't underestimate the will and power of the Afghan tribal chieftains. The Taliban cannot maintain their presence and their offensive ascendency in Afghanistan without the welcoming, the permission, and the approval of the Afghan tribal chieftains and the people they lead.

It wouldn't surprise me if many chieftains are already thinking exactly this way, some way ahead of me. But, it wouldn't hurt for NATO, including American, diplomats and military leaders to encourage this viewpoint. Who knows? Peace could break out in Afghanistan the way it has been happening in Iraq.