Despite repeated claims of progress from their American allies, the latest quarterly report from the Canadian government cautions that the security situation in Afghanistan is continuing to worsen.
The report cites an “increasingly volatile” nation in which assassinations are growing and casualties are reaching new record levels on a regular basis. Though they claim some progress in distributing polio vaccinations they make it clear that the security situation is getting worse, not better.
The report comes at an inopportune time for NATO, as the deaths of nine troops yesterday brought the 2010 death toll, with over three months left, to the worst since the war began. The war’s unpopularity and worsening situation are a bad combination for politicians aiming to make a career out of selling the conflict, and has led to a number of efforts to downplay just how bad things really are.
And they are bad. Every day of worsening violence is met with predictions that things will get worse before they get better, and every claim that the election was a success is followed by a dozen reports from the ground about ballot stuffing and fraud. Afghanistan remains a mess.
There is further news on the 9 Nato soldiers killed yesterday four of them were from the US navy and reported today at the DOD website at press resources / news releases Sept. 22, 2010.
What are those Navy boys doing a long way from the ocean?
Its another bad sign when an army is so outmanned that it starts to cannibalize troops from other functions. When you see cooks with guns, you know they ain't winning. The same thing when you see the Navy guys being pulled off ships and handed a rifle in the middle of the mountains.
Funny, that isn't in the recruiting commercials.
News Flash the other five "NATO" Troops were US Army soldiers one from St Louis Park, MN about 70 miles from here.
So adding in another soldier killed in the big Kandahar offensive and you have 21 US soldiers killed in the last 6 days.
One thing I've noticed all year long has been a 're-branding' of this war as a NATO war.
That always told me that the propagandists know we are losing. They want it to be a NATO loss. If they were expecting grand victories, it would all be red, white, and blue.
That level of US combat deaths is at a rate of 100 per month.
Been true all year.
The year started with films of insurgents celebrating in captured US bases, with the Pentagon issuing statements that it was all a 'strategic withdrawal'.
Its been unsafe for dignitaries like the British Defense minister to visit even the most secure areas, as attacks have been launched on such occasions. Remember the Karsai/CIA loyal jirga meeting being bombed. And a major assault on the big Kanduhar base when the Brit Def Min was there overnite. Not just mortars, but an open frontal assault on the perimeter of one of our biggest bases was launched.
The assault on the fictional city of Marjan met 'more resistance than expected'. This was to be the dress rehearsal for a bigger assualt on Kanduhar province out of that big base there. The Brit Def Min was there to get a pre-assualt dog-and-pony show when instead he had to hide in a bunker. It turns out that the US had such problems even mounting patrols out from the base that the whole Kanduhar offensive has apparently been canceled or delayed into oblivion.
This report is nothing new. Its the end of a long string of such stories all year long. While the corporate media tries to spin its 'success stories', what's really been true is that the 'security situation' has been getting worse and worse all year long. And this during the same time as a massive US buildup of more troops and equipment and resources.
Remember, the German people were told only of victories at Stalingrad. Right up until they had to be told that their army had been surrounded and lost. I don't think we are about to lose an army. But it does seem as if we are losing a war.
Just like the Russians.