Obama's Gordian Knot  Will the United States ever leave
Afghanistan?  Gordius, King of Phrygia (in modern Turkey), once
tied an intricate knot, named for him ever since. An oracle told
Alexander the Great that whoever could untie it would master
Asia. Alexander drew his sword and slashed the knot. He then
conquered the lands between Persia and Afghanistan, pushing on
as far as the Punjab. There his exhausted troops rebelled, and
his retreat from Asia began. The oracle should have known that
the mastery of Asia ultimately belongs to Asians.  President
Barack Obama has promised a withdrawal of many or most American
troops from Afghanistan in the months to come. He has not
promised the departure of the enormous State Department and
mercenary force of state-builders and democracy-creators and
defenders already there. This, at least, is the plan -- a
dangerous one that will fail because it ignores reality.  The
Gordian Knot by which this American project is bound is the
simultaneous conflict and collaboration of t