I find this an interesting statistic about Afghanistan and something I had not run across before:
[The Taliban] continue to stage near-daily attacks targeting Afghan and U.S. forces, as well as government officials[.]
Near-daily Taliban attacks?
As in, there aren't multiple attacks every day?
And that was just an aside in an article about something else. Shouldn't that attack rate be the big news?
Even before the Iraq War really heated up in the summer of 2006, we counted 80-90 enemy attacks per day.
If Afghanistan is a war we are losing, it is barely a war at all if the enemy is attacking that infrequently.
This is the first time I've seen something like this. It creates great dissonance with statements that the Afghan security forces can't sustain their rate of losses (although the complaints are old and the security forces continue to sustain them, seemingly reflecting Afghan reality more than American reality). I assumed the attacks had to be much, much higher given the near-panic evidenced about the war there.
We really are, by being there to help Afghan forces fight the Taliban, down to the Global Troubles there, aren't we?
There is rumor that Trump wants to "end" our war in Afghanistan. But as I've always said, it does not take two to wage war as the leftist bumper sticker slogan claimed. All we can do is walk away from a war that will continue. And we have to consider whether we will like the outcome after we leave.
I do worry that Afghanistan could become Vietnam War 2.0. That is, we'll win the war on the battlefield and then lose it because domestic politics lead us to walk away and let the enemy win.
