But even if provincial elections could be held, there is no reason to believe that they would lead to any sort of national reconciliation. If anything, they would be a first step toward partition. That may be the route we have to take in the end.

Working with provincial leaderships instead of going solely through central governemtn channels is worth considering, however.
In both Afghanistan and Iraq, the central governements are weak, because they are corrupt and fail to provide services.

Empowering local leadership to fund their own hospitals, clinics and develpment could soothe fevered tempers, and iImprovement in daily lives is always a great pacifier. Even the lack of clean water is a major problem in many areas, now. Desperation is the perfent breeding ground for violence.

This leads to the subject of partition. Even the kind of soft partition I’m considering here is problematic.
We can’t play Iraq like a chessboard, rearranging the pieces at will; this would need Iraqi endorsement.

It’s an avenue I wish were explored more, nevertheless. Since, we can’t, obviously police the whole country and purge corruption and sectarianism from the central governement, it might be time to look for ways to pacify the populace by working around, or in spite of, the central governement. Doing it at gunpoint will not do the trick, IMO. Finding ways to solve the problems of daily life just might.