The Foreign Service Journal, December 2014

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | DECEMBER 2014 91 surge and drone strikes, “was rotting at its core.” She closes, even more unexpect- edly, by marveling at “the changes the American intervention has wrought: the rebuilding, the modernity, the bright graduates in every o ce.” No Pollyanna, she also notes that at the end of it all, the fundamentals of Afghanistan’s predicament remain: “a weak state, prey to ambitions of its neighbors and extremist Islamists.” But to Gall it is anything but lost. “Counterinsurgency is slow work,” she says matter-of-factly. “ e United States and its NATO allies are departing with the job only half-done. A comprehensive e ort to turn things around only began in 2010. e fruits were only starting to show in 2013, and progress remains fragile.” en she makes a statement that, given the rise of the Islamic State group, is prescient and haunting: “Militant Islamism is a juggernaut that cannot be turned o or turned away from. Pakistan is still exporting militant Islamism and terrorism, and will not stop once foreign forces leave its borders. e repercus- sions of the U.S. pullout are already inspiring Islamists, who are comparing it to the withdrawal of the Soviet Union after its debilitating war in Afghanistan. ey are the real enemy in this war and they have not nished ghting. ey fully intend to reclaim Afghanistan and have set their sights on horizons beyond.” In addition to the United States and NATO staying to see the mission through, her message is that Pakistan must “stand up to its responsibilities as a nuclear power and one of the world’s largest Muslim countries and stop spreading terrorism and fanaticism around the world.“ In my nal cable fromMazar-e-Sharif