5/26/2006
Battle and War
I understand that it is possible, and indeed common to lose a battle and win the war. While I'm not going to make a ridiculous statement about the whole war being lost when even the U.S. military admits that the Taliban is growing in strength, one has to wonder how effective the War on Terror is in Afghanistan. We've been working in Afghanistan for longer than we have Iraq, and with far less troops. Is it possible with the resources currently on the ground to win the War on Terror soon enough to keep the situation from devolving further. By this I mean that currently most of the locals understand it to be a Civilization vs. Terrorism war. If it goes on too long, it will turn into a situation of Locals vs. Outsiders and then, no matter how vile the ideology of the Taliban, they will be offering leadership and the old saw about the known devil didn't become a cliche for no reason.
