I wish I had been at this meeting.

I assume my invitation was lost in the mail, David.

In an oped in the Wash Post David Ignatius writes up a meeting between Amb. Holbrooke and Gen. Mullen and tribal leaders in and Paktia province in Afghanistan.

His description of the meeting gives me the chills; can someone please invite me to one of these? (Read: Please give me a job on a PRT!)

Whether this will work or not, it's a darn good try. During the get together Holbrooke and Mullen asked tribal leaders questions like this:
"What attracts the people to the Taliban?"
"Give us advice on reconciliation with the Taliban."
"What other suggestions do you have?"

These questions reminded me of what David Kilcullen was saying at his conversation last week which I went to with the author of this oped about his strategy in general and his new book Accidental Guerrilla. Kilcullen stated that one reason the surge/ new COIN strategy was effective against AQI was because soldiers started asking the people what would work.