Afghanistan, in Today's News 08.10.09

Afghanistan. Anyone who has followed the fiasco-in-the-making in Afghanistan will not be surprised by today's front page headline in the Wall Street Journal: "Taliban Now Winning".

First paragraph, "The Taliban have gained the upper hand in Afghanistan, the top American commander there said, forcing the U.S. to change its strategy in the eight-year-old conflict by increasing the number of troops in heavily populated areas like the volatile southern city of Kandahar, the insurgents spiritual home."

"The coming deployments are...[General Stanley] McChrystal's strategy for Afghanistan, which puts a premium on safeguarding the Afghan population rather than hunting down militants."

Several comments:

---The U.S. cannot win this engagement. It has been eight years since the first shock-and-awe attack put the U.S. in Afghanistan. The relationship of forces has steadily declined for the U.S. influence ever since. Now the Taliban is mounting significant and sophisticated attacks resulting in a higher rate of casualties for the American forces. Anyone familiar with trend lines can see where all this is headed.

---The U.S. experience is a repeat of the Russian debacle in Afghanistan a couple of decades ago, only in a little slower motion.  Even the American command is aware of the parallel. "'How many people do you bring in before the Afghans say, 'You're acting like the Russians'?' said one senior military official..."

---The US will soon have 68,000 troops in Afghanistan; NATO has an additional 30,000 troops. The Afghan army is to be boosted to 240,000 from 135,000 and the Afghan police to 160,000 from 82,000. Estimates vary, but some think it will take 250,000 American troops to control the situation. Clearly this 'deployment' is rapidly becoming a Vietnam-type mobilization. Did the American people sign-on for this level of engagement?

---The talk about 'safeguarding the Afghan population' is code for protecting the current American-installed regime. The US also wants to keep Afghan citizens from joining the Taliban. This style of 'protection' was tried in Vietnam with disastrous results, which is just about what can be expected in Afghanistan.

---The 'safeguarding the Afghan population' is an indirect acknowledgement by the American command that the Taliban is reaching the Afghan population. Such a development is ominous indeed for the 'allies.'

---The US involvement in Afghanistan has nothing to do with American interests. The US is simply doing a favor to Israel by engaging Islam militants so that they will be less likely to attack Israel. The favor has now turned into a quite significant drain on funds and troops. One can witness the slow draining of American credibility as the war goes down the tubes.

---Israel, for its part, could care less about American prospects. It is quite happy to have the US engaged in Afghanistan and if the US stays engaged, all the better. Israel's interest are to keep any potential threats against Israel from actually exercising that threat.