A United Nations report today cautioned that the eight year long war in Afghanistan is increasingly taking place in residential neighborhoods, with both the Taliban insurgency and the international forces killing enormous numbers of civilians as they duke it out over control of the nation.
But today’s report was hardly the first indication that the war is going poorly, and that July in particular is a month which has seen an enormous number of records broken and new “worst month” reports.
46 foreign troops were killed in August 2008, the previous high. Incredibly, that number was equaled on July 15, and continued to rise hitting at least 70 by month’s end. 42 American troops died in July, also a new record, and 22 British soldiers died, the worst month that nation has seen since the 1980’s.
As the US continues to commit more troops to the war, it takes more and more aggressive stances, like launching the Helmand River Valley offensive, the largest the nation has seen since the Soviet occupation. But it has little to show for its escalation, with attacks on the rise and deaths among both allies and bystanders reaching ever higher levels.
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has conceded that the US most show some sign of improvement in the nation within a year, or it risks long international support. There is certainly no sign that is going to happen, but the bigger question is: how much worse is it going to get in the mean time?
One of the saddest commentaries is that the Dem's for the largest part have abondoned the anti-war movement. I guess it just goes to show how they were more anti-bush than pro peace.
I just read an article in Foreign Affairs last night called, "How to Flip the Taliban" by Fotini Christa & Michael Semple. They speak about Afghan history in which traditionally Afghan fighters tend to side with the winner in war time. Likewise, that we could easily do the same in our present situation by sitting down with the Taliban and talking about the current issues in Afghanistan. Likewise, giving leaders an opportunity to voice their opinion, and supporting cooperation between factions. However, it would seem that the U.S. is sticking with it's big stick type policy rather than having rational conversation and discussing grievances. I thought the article posed some interesting points.