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Scholar: Afghan rebuilding not going well

STANFORD, Calif., Sept. 25 (UPI) -- Washington lacks a comprehensive non-military strategy to supplement the combat effort under consideration for Afghanistan, an analyst says.

U.S. President Barack Obama in March announced an effort to move forward in Afghanistan with a "comprehensive plan" that coupled a civilian surge with a sweeping military offensive.

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Kori Schake, a fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, writes in The Wall Street Journal that the Obama administration only has a military plan for Afghanistan and is not debating "the much bigger challenges -- the non-military pieces of the Afghanistan strategy."

She blames Washington for its lack of attention given to national reconstruction in Afghanistan, which the Obama administration linked to success in Afghanistan earlier this year.

"The rebuilding effort isn't going well," she writes.

The top U.S. and allied commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, and other top military officials are considering troop levels following dour reports on the war.

Obama, for his part, has called for a review of the U.S.-led war effort before making a decision on troop levels.

Schake warns, however, that the Obama administration risks losing further ground in Afghanistan if it does not hold to its civilian strategies for the war.

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"The military is doing its job in Afghanistan," she writes." It's time the rest of the government does its job."

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