Common sense in Afghanistan

Re “Afghans say U.S. is off track,” Oct. 1

Excellent article. As an old anthropology/linguistics undergrad back in the late ‘50s, I agree with the Afghans’ opinions.

I sure hope President Obama has smart enough advisors to realize all of the complexities; we should talk with Afghans and the Taliban -- unlike Bush’s team.

Lance Fogan

Valencia

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Mark Magnier’s article got it right.

In order to be successful, the allied effort in Afghanistan must rely on input from the knowledge, wants and needs of the average people.

Bob Harman

Laguna Beach

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It was good to read the report on common sense from the streets of Afghanistan. How about a little more common sense?

Abdullah Abdullah and President Hamid Karzai could simply acknowledge that the other had no advance knowledge of the mischief in the last election.

Karzai could call for a runoff election with Abdullah and end the controversy over the last election.

Both could then publicly agree on the procedures for an open election -- for example, the ballots publicly counted at the polling places, with volunteer observers verifying the count. In a tribal area, if invited in as a “guest,” an Afghan police officer could safely bring in the ballots and box, observe and return the cast ballots to the district center. The officer would verify whether proper procedures were followed. Without extending that invitation, the tribe would be disenfranchised.

With some common sense, there could be a united Afghanistan.

Ronn S. Pickard

Burbank