It is an interesting quirk of human psychology that most people don't realize that we are still at war in Afghanistan. Like most mopping-up operations, Afghanistan has taken quite some time, and we still see conflicts erupting in parts of the country where remaining Taliban have holed up and from which they occasionally launch attacks. Occasionally we hear about American servicemen being killed there, although the number tends to go down over time, with occasional spikes here and there. It gives some the impression that Afghanistan is still a mess.
But, in fact, if you follow the situation in Afghanistan, you know that for most people, life is getting better all the time, as stability, peace, and freedom are gradually brought to more and more of a nation that hasn't had any of those things in almost four decades.
It would be wise to remember that most news emphasizes the negative over the positive.
Despite the low level conflict continuing in Iraq and Afghanistan, both of these conflicts do not have the necessary requirement to sustain any successful guerrilla operations. There is no support to the guerrilla from another country.
It took about 9 months to settle Afganistan out to the point where it slipped almost entirely out of the American news cycle...this means, by definition, that not only is it going well, but its going fantastically well (the "news" of course is the diligent collecting of the most bizarre events of the day...thus we don't see "US Patrol Comes Back Safely" as a headline, proving that this is the norm). Iraq is a much more tricky business, but Leeden over at NRO (who has been paying attention) says that the Iranian mullahs have apparantly called back a lot of their thugs recently sent to Iraq to stir up trouble for us - seems that the mullah's need thugs at home. Capturing or killing Saddam - thats the final key to the Iraqi situation. That done, it'll be relatively smooth sailing.
very interesting, thanks
Something not covered in the American booby media is the real progress in Afghanistan itself. Mohammed Karzai is merely the Mayor of Kabul. He does not control the Afghanistan countryside. The warlords are back in control of that.
Our not occupying Afghanistan with enough British, German, and American troops will be our saddest legacy in that poor country. We definitely need more troops to completely occupy the entire Afghanistan countryside making Karzai the leader of an entire country and not merely a “mayor.” Our failure to do so allows Osama bin Laden and his ilk to hide in the nether land between it and Pakistan.