"Taliban Surprising U.S. Forces With Improved Tactics"

The Link

The Taliban has become a much more potent adversary in Afghanistan by improving its own tactics and finding gaps in the U.S. military playbook, according to senior American military officials who acknowledged that the enemy's resurgence this year has taken them by surprise.

One more thing to add to the list of 'proofs' that we are done in Afghanistan. Obama needs to get us the hell out of there, and soon.

This is a legacy of defeat left to the current president by the last. Bush ignored this nation for six or seven years while he focused on revenging his 'daddy' and securing Iraqi oil for the USA.

In that time the Taliban and other anti-USA elements were able to solidify their stance and learn about USA operations.

There is nothing left to do here but loose, in fact we have already lost. Indeed:

As President Obama faces crucial decisions on his war strategy and declining public support at home, administration and defense officials are studying the reasons why the Taliban appears, for the moment at least, to be winning.

If you mix there batter to bake a cake and let that batter sit out for six years before you use it you can bet it is going to have gone bad long before. Howe daft are these people? Don't they realize we have been 'occupying' Afghanistan for seven years? In which time we have done very very little to solidify our stance their and have alternately allowed those who oppose us to 'dig in'.

If we were going to 'win' this war we would have done so long ago, now it is just another 'quagmire' to add to the list of Bush-Cheney quagmires.

In the spring, Obama outlined a broad new direction for the war that he said his predecessor had starved of attention and resources.

Yup.

But many U.S. officials and their allies feel that they are in a race against time and the determination of a battle-hardened enemy that has learned from its own mistakes and those of U.S. and NATO forces over nearly eight years of combat. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the new U.S. commander in Afghanistan, gave Obama an assessment this week of what he described as a "serious" situation.

" U.S. to boost combat force in Afghanistan"

The Link

Reporting from Washington - U.S. officials are planning to add as many as 14,000 combat troops to the American force in Afghanistan by sending home support units and replacing them with "trigger-pullers," Defense officials say.

The move would beef up the combat force in the country without increasing the overall number of U.S. troops, a contentious issue as public support for the war slips. But many of the noncombat jobs are likely be filled by private contractors, who have proved to be a source of controversy in Iraq and a growing issue in Afghanistan

Unchanged, as if that is suppose to be a good thing. We don't need to replace troops and maintain our levels there we need to get the hell out.

[edit on 2-9-2009 by Animal]

I think it would be completely ironic that we "won" the war in Iraq but will end up losing the war in Afghanistan. The War in Afghanistan was supposed to be the more important war when it came to terrorism. It's about time we got a spanking. We need a slice of humble pie in my opinion. Maybe we'll learn it's not our job to police the world and have 700+ bases on 150 countries spending more money than the top 20 countries in the world. And all the while our country back home is imploding economically. When in Rome...............

Add to that the fact that Saudi Arabia is as big of a state sponsor of terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism as any other country and a majority of the hijackers were Saudi Arabian and it makes both wars seem pretty futile and worthless.

Typical "war" with terms dictated by public opinion. If the US ever wants to win another war, they will have to fight it in the same fashion as wars that have been won throughout history.
1. War is officially declared by act of Congress and they then step back and let the military dictate strategy and fight war.
2. Joint Chiefs choose Commander of Forces
3. Commanding Generals are convened to plan operations
4. Commanders on the ground are consulted to form plan
5. Funds are appropriated to fund operations
6. Munitions buildup and draft is commenced to support war
7. Expeditionary force is deployed to identify and relocate non-combatants
8. Theater of operations is identified, battle lines are established and manned, Borders are secured, forward airfields are established and provisioned.
9. Carpet bombing of entire theater is commenced 24hrs a day for weeks
10. Equipment and supplies are moved to the front line along with support personnel.
11. Troops are deployed in pre-planned fashion in order to search out, engage and destroy enemy combatants
12. Isolated operations are enacted to eliminate pockets of resistance.
13. Military post are manned after territory is gained.
14. Mop-up operations are executed
15. Terms of surrender are offered
16. Terms are accepted and occupation force is put in place
17. Terms are unaccepted and annihilation of remaining force and individuals is authorized.
18. Non-combatants are screened at established border crossings and allowed to return.
19. Foreign aid is appropriated to help rebuild and establish good faith of new governing body.
20. Pull-out of majority of forces, occupational force remains behind.

A sure way to loose a war is to allow public opinion, politicians and the media to dictate policy.

No matter how much we get burnt we just keep doing the same. Policing the world does not work, the US/UK should lead by example and not try to bomb countries into democracy.

Also foreign aid should not be used as it does more bad than good. Promote free trade(no government interference) instead.