Pulitzer winning author Thomas Friedman has criticised US President Barack Obama's new Af-Pak policy and has expressed the need for more nation-building within the United States to secure its broader global role.
"I can't agree with President Obama's decision to escalate in Afghanistan," Friedman wrote in his latest column in the New York Times. "Given our need for nation-building at home right now, I am ready to live with a little less security and a little-less-perfect Afghanistan," he said.
On Tuesday, President Obama announced his new Af-Pak policy and 30,000 troops surge in Afghanistan bringing the total number of US soldiers in the war-torn region to 100,000.
Pointing out that the US weakened by economic debt could not play its "historic stabilising role", he said, "many big bad things happen in the world without America, but not a lot of big good things." Describing the current plan as having too many "moving parts", the author said that he would prefer a "minimalist approach", which means "working with tribal leaders the way we did to overthrow the Taliban regime in the first place."
Taking into account the historical and political context of the counter-terrorism action by the US since 9/11, Friedman also advocated less support to the regimes in the "Arab-Muslim" world that are oil-rich and avoid any internal political and social reform, which leads to "so many frustrated and angry people" who volunteer for "martyrdom".