From Ralph Peters' April 24 New York Post column:

A superb piece of reporting in Friday's Washington Post captured our self-delusion. Bewildered by the lack of local support for our efforts to “help,” Gen. Stan McChrystal and his staff decided that our problems in the Taliban stronghold, Kandahar, are all about electricity shortages.

So, with the fate of our ballyhooed Kandahar offensive in doubt before it starts, the general wants to spend $200 million on generators and diesel fuel to improve the power supply.

It's a desperate ploy to make our politically correct counterinsurgency doctrine succeed: If we do nice things, the locals are supposed to rally to us and solve our problems with a minimum of violence. The only problem is that it doesn't work.

Would Kandaharis like to have more juice in their shambolic power grid? You bet. But the Eliot Spitzer Law of Foreign Affairs applies: You can't buy enduring love, just quick sex. And in Afghanistan, quick sex can get ugly.

Fiercely traditional Kandahar is the birthplace of the Taliban. Membership is a family affair. And Afghans don't turn against their own kind just because the lights stay on longer. We've gone from fighting the Taliban to fighting human nature.