In the Clinton years, when people started raising alarm bells about the Taliban, Republicans sniffed and said “nation building is not our role.” When Bush was President, suddenly “rescuing” all those women was one of the many great things we were supposedly doing in the Middle East.

Now, it bothers me when I hear about the leaders of Pakistan or Afghanistan talking about negotiating with leaders of the Taliban, even the “more moderate memebers.” When they acquiesced briefly to allow sharia law in the SWAT valley, we saw immediately that the primary loser in any kind of negotiations was going to be the women.

Now the women are being used again to make the case for staying in Af/Pak. Obama talked before the election about pulling out of Iraq and focusing on getting the job done in Afghanistan. I think we need to let him try to do that. Unfortunately, I’m not convinced that even if we do make headway, that we will be able to effect much change in this vital cultural issue. And, by the time we are “done” with this exhausting war, I’m not sure there’ll be anyone left to care.