The debate over Afghanistan is now ringingly political. Stanley McChrystal has not said something new about the struggle against the Taliban. What is significant is that the general has spoken out iconically on the eve of the Afghanistan presidential election.  What is also significant is that the general has hinted at an imminent American non-victory, if not a defeat, with the background that the Obama administration is pursuing a Faustian deal to have Saudi intelligence buy off the Taliban and the ISI, to have the ISI make a deal with Al Qaeda to stand down and not use AfPakia to launch attacks on Homeland America, and to begin a rapid withdrawal of American troops from combat.