Losing in Afghanistan

UPDATED: The New York Times has a piece on the unwinable war in Afghanistan here which is worth a read. More chillingly, the Times has photos of all of the U.S. service members who have died in Afghanistan. Looking at the photos literally sickens me. These could be the faces of my children, young military guys I see out at clubs or my daughters' friends. The faux patriots who seem to love war and killing non-Christians never factor in the young lives that are being thrown away or the everlasting damage done to the families of the dead and severely wounded. In my view - unlike Obama who is merely escalating the Bush/Cheney fiasco - true patriots question the loss of the lives of Americans and the squandering of resources in a war that will ultimately end like Vietnam.

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Another front on which the Obama administration is not being honest with American citizens is the debacle in Afghanistan. True, the mess was created by the Chimperator, but now well over a year into his presidency, Barack Obama is gaining ownership of this ill executed war. A war which if properly handled by the Bush/Cheney regime might have avoided the spread of the Taliban into Pakistan. The conflict has real relevance for me because I know people serving over there and I have a daughter who has a boyfriend there at this very moment. As Joe Klein notes, despite the cheer leading of military leaders, it looks as if we are losing regardless of the amount of men, money and resources thrown into the fool's errand. We should have learned from the Soviet experience, but as is too common, American hubris always makes those safe at home and far behind the lines think that our troops can accomplish what others before us have not. Think Vietnam as another example of such a hubris based disaster. Here are highlights from Klein's piece in Time magazine:
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The adage is: if you're not winning against a guerrilla insurgency, you're losing. We're not winning in Afghanistan. And our performance in Marja isn't helping any. Indeed, it hurts in several ways detailed in this excellent NY Times piece: But the insurgents' extensive intelligence network in Marja has remained intact, and they have been able to maintain a hold over the population through what residents have described as threats and assassinations. In April members of the Taliban visited one old man late at night and made him eat his aid registration papers, several residents said, a Mafia-style warning to others not to take government aid.
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At the beginning of May, a well-liked man named Sharifullah was beaten to death, accused of supporting the district chief and not paying taxes to the Taliban. His killing froze the community and villagers stopped going to the district administration.
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The fact is, no credible "government in a box" showed up in Marja when the U.S. Marines and some Afghan elements took it in February. The fact is, there is no credible long-term alternative to the Taliban. These results have two disastrous impacts on the impending battle--or something, whatever you want to call it--in Kandahar Province. It does not inspire confidence in the Afghan government's ability to govern the area after NATO troops seize it, especially since Kandahar is the Taliban heartland.
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I must admit, again, I'm mystified about where this effort goes from here. Nothing I've heard from the U.S. military or other elements of our government leads me to believe we're on the right track here.