As President Obama escalated the war in Afghanistan, now in its tenth year, Cortright (policy studies, U. of Notre Dame) came to have increasing misgivings over the US military presence there but remained worried that withdrawing militarily could lead to the return of the Taliban and their oppression of women and violations of human rights (which, one presumes, he believes to be categorically worse than the current government's oppression of women and violations of human rights). Having come to the conclusion that military "solutions" are only making matters worse, this volume represents his attempt to resolve that dilemma by proffering diplomatic, political, economic, and social alternatives to military means that he believes can help to achieve greater security and stability in Afghanistan while protecting human rights. Essentially, he calls for military withdrawal accompanied by increased spending on development and improved governance in order "to exert leverage on both the Taliban and the Kabul government." He also calls for a Muslim-led interim security protection force to be introduced as NATO troops withdraw and greater diplomatic involvement by states neighboring Afghanistan. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)