Taliban "poised to retake Afghanistan" after NATO pullout
The headline probably is what 90% of the eyeballs who glanced at the news page read. These people will think that our fight has been in vain as the Taliban are poised to win as soon as we are out.
A hardy small percentage will check out the first paragraph to get the gist:
The U.S. military said in a secret report the Taliban, backed by Pakistan, are set to retake control of Afghanistan after NATO-led forces withdraw from the country, raising the prospect of a major failure of western policy after a costly war.
These readers will add in that Pakistan is about to stab us in the back and brings up explicitly the idea of a lost war. Oh, and it is a US "secret" report--obviously secret to hide the looming disaster.
How many read more to get this?
Lieutenant Colonel Jimmie Cummings, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, confirmed the existence of the document, reported by Britain's Times newspaper and the BBC. But he said it was not a strategic study.
Ah, the first hint. It isn't a "strategic study." But so what? An official spokesman of ISAF confirmed the existence of the secret US report!
Do go on:
"The classified document in question is a compilation of Taliban detainee opinions," he said. "It's not an analysis, nor is it meant to be considered an analysis."
Wait. What?
Only now when the vast majority of readers are long gone you bring this up?
Yes, a hardy few will discover that this report is a compilation of opinions expressed by captured Taliban. Captured Taliban jihadis believe that their trials and tribulations will be ended by a magical post-America offensive that sweeps them into power? They believe this and so this constitutes something newsworthy?
Apparently, yes:
Nevertheless, it could be interpreted as a damning assessment of the war, now dragging into its eleventh year and aimed at blocking a Taliban return to power.
I love that "nevertheless" part. Reuters can't even allow the hardy few who discovered that there is no story here to keep that impression, so they tell us that despite the fact that there is no story it confirms the disaster coming. Few readers will have the time or interest to read this deep. And even most of those will lack the military and history knowledge to see the article for the bullshit non-story it is being spun to be.
This is a story about how the Taliban believe they will win and since the reporters and editors believe the war is a failure, that's what Reuters will go with as the story theme. What jihadi nutballs believe is a "damning assessment of the war." I'd love to see the secret report on what reporters believe about the war. That might be a pretty damning assessment, eh? But then again, their opinion is fairly obvious.
The public would be better off if our press corps stuck with reporting the existence of a report on Taliban opinions without trying to explain the significance of the report when the reporters clearly lack the knowledge to add that value.
We're beating the Taliban in Afghanistan. Unless we just snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, we can finish the job.
UPDATE: This article is better and directly addresses the problem I'm highlighting:
NATO officials have emphasized that the report does not represent the military’s analysis, only the views of Taliban prisoners still loyal to the movement. The military’s remarks, however, have not stopped many analysts from casting renewed doubt on the success of the US-led military mission here.
“The document may provide some level of representative sampling of Taliban opinions and ideals, but it is clearly a collection of insurgent detainee commentary, and should not be considered an analysis or any type of interpretation of campaign progress,” says US Army Lt. Col. Jimmie Cummings, spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.
The report had an easy time finding traction among critics of the war, who say it indicates an Afghan mission on the brink of failure at a time of mounting anxiety among many Afghans.
It would probably be more accurate to say that the captured Taliban have lost hope of actually winning and are counting on a different future where victory is possible.
UPDATE: I will say that the more recent version of the Reuters article is better than the first one I read, providing contrary views and not just saying we believe we are doomed. A better headline would help, too.
UPDATE: Welcome Bharat Rakshak readers.
