Afghanistan: The unsustainable in pursuit of the unbeatable

[IndianaGreen]

Afghanistan: The unsustainable in pursuit of the unbeatable

Nine years after the invasion, US-led forces are still trying to pin down and defeat the elusive Taliban

By David Randall and Jonathan Owen

Sunday, 1 August 2010

At midnight last night, the United States formally recorded its most lethal month in the seemingly endless war in Afghanistan. Some 66 servicemen died – at least two a day, every day, for 31 days. That was July. June was the deadliest for the coalition as a whole, and the first six months of 2010 were among the bloodiest for civilians since records began in 2007. What will August bring? Or September and October, months which, General David Petraeus, the US commander, has warned may well bring even more intense fighting? By that time, the war will have gone into its 10th year, and so will move towards, and beyond, the landmark when it will have lasted longer than the First and Second World Wars combined.

It is, especially for the Afghan people, a war without end, and one to add to their history of other fruitless conflicts. An Independent on Sunday assessment, using records kept by Professor Marc Herold of the University of New Hampshire and the UN, puts the civilians killed as a direct result of the war since 2001 at 13,746. Last year, the toll of those who died directly or indirectly was estimated by another US academic to be as high as 32,000.

Meanwhile, the US continues to pile in troops. American strength stands at about 95,000, and by the end of August the figure is expected to swell to 100,000 – three times the number in early 2009. As a result, US commanders have been stepping up the fight against the insurgents in their longtime strongholds such as the Arghandab Valley, Panjwaii and Zhari – all on the outskirts of Kandahar city, the biggest urban area in the ethnic Pashtun south, and the Taliban's spiritual birthplace, where support for the insurgency runs deep.

Yet, as the US and its allies step up pressure around Kandahar, Taliban resistance has also intensified in Helmand to the west and in Zabul to the east. And there were disconcerting scenes in Kabul on Friday. Police fired weapons into the air to disperse a crowd of angry Afghans who shouted "Death to America!", hurled stones and set fire to two vehicles after an SUV, driven by US contract employees, was involved in an accident that killed four Afghans.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/afghanistan-the-unsustainable-in-pursuit-of-the-unbeatable-2040847.html

[bemildred]

1. Gee, who could have predicted this? nt

[lib2DaBone]

2. Beware of the CIA "Shift and Lift" operation...

Yes.. Afghanistan is a failure..(needless to say) but the rhetoric hitting the world media now is that since Afghanistan is a failure, the war must be shifted to an attack on Pakistan and Iran.

The meme is that since Afghanistan is a failure.. we must go after the real problem to win the war.. and that would be an attack on Pakistan and Iran. Get out of afghanistan.. and shift our focus to Pal/Iran. This is how it will be sold to the American Public.

Ahmadinejan of Iran recently said that the United States would invade 2 mideast countries within the next 3 months. Could this be Pakistan and Iran?

Charles Krauthammer and the neocons are already laying the groundwork on Fox News for an invasion of Iran.. they are giddy with excitement...

[BrklynLiberal]

3. scary,scary shit.....and always from those who have never set foot inside a military installation,

much less an actual battlefield.