On Tuesday night, President Obama announced his plan to send more troops to Afghanistan -- as many as 30,000. These men and women, he told Americans and South Asians alike, will help us leave Afghanistan once and for all, and to leave that country standing on its own two feet.

But as some have rightly argued, how is sending more troops part of an exit strategy? It's not, unless those added troops are truly capable of bringing about a swift end to the war in South Asia. Chances are that won't happen, and these new soldiers will merely drive the American foothold deeper into that country, thereby prolonging the war.

Peter Beinart of the Daily Beast suggests that Obama cannot simultaneously send more troops and appease the "doves" in the U.S. by promising an end to the war. The two are mutually exclusive, and he should be frank with us about what these new troops mean for the future of this war, our presence in South Asia, and the prospects of the Afghan people.

In the bygone HBO series "The Wire," a narcotics detective once explained why the "war on drugs" is a misnomer: "Wars end," he said.

Looking at the situations in Afghanistan and Iraq right now, maybe they don't.

[Image: Still from the film "Rethink Afghanistan" from Artthreat.com]