“Unwinnable” War In Afghanistan? A Final Realization?

US defense secretary Robert M. Gates has stated an obvious fact: The troops in Afghanistan “are tired…and the American people are pretty tired.” So, what next (or new)?

In an ominous use of the word “unwinnable”, once used by the legendary media person the late Walter Cronkite to turn public opinion against the Vietnam war, defense secretary Gates (photo above) says that “after eight years, U.S.-led forces must show progress in Afghanistan by next summer to avoid the public perception that the conflict has become unwinnable.”

The LA Times reports that in a sharp critique of the war effort, Gates said that victory was a “long-term prospect” under any scenario and that the U.S. would not win the war in a year’s time.” However, U.S. forces must begin to turn the situation around in a year, he said, or face the likely loss of public support.”

Does the US defense secretary expect the US and the allied soldiers to use a magic wand when Gates actually knows that the Afghanistan war is becoming “unwinnable”? Isn’t it a pathetic scenario that instead of Washington seeking a diplomatic strategy to exit from Afghanistan, the US administration is pleading with the US and allied forces to achieve an impossible goal? More here…

Gates’ confessional statement comes in the wake of extremist attacks that rose dramatically last year and U.S. and NATO troop casualties surpassed record levels. “A U.S. fighter jet crashed on Saturday, killing the two crew members and bringing the number of Western deaths in Afghanistan to at least 50 in July, the deadliest month yet (this year).”

To top it all, the Taliban have released a 28-minute video showing a US soldier captured in Afghanistan last month, reports the BBC. “In the video, the soldier, in grey clothes and with shaved head, says being a prisoner is ‘unnerving’ and that he misses his family.

“He says the US public has the power to bring US troops home to be ‘back where we belong and not over here, wasting our time and our lives’. The US military in Kabul said the man in the video was the missing soldier.” More here (including the video)…

The ABC story about the kidnapped US soldier here…

Here are some key facts and figures about Afghanistan and the British and other international forces fighting in Afghanistan.

The BBC reports that “mobility is a major factor in guerrilla warfare and Taliban fighters often operate as a ‘pick-up truck cavalry’ force in adapted four-wheel drive vehicles such as the Toyota Hi-Lux. ISAF forces tend to rely on heavier armoured vehicles.”

It adds that “the true number of civilians killed in the Afghan conflict will probably never be known.” More here…