Another Viet Nam?

The area now known as Afghanistan has not been a settled,easy plot for many years. Its earliest European contact person was Alexander of Macedon. In its recent history, the Afghani government invited the Soviets to send in troops to bring an end to a civil war between the Afghani government and an insurgency called the Mujahideen. The Mujahideen were supported by the United States, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Soviet troops were sent, in December of 1979, and were finally withdrawn in defeat in February of 1989. In 1992, the rebel faction overthrew the government. In 1996, the Taliban assumed control of the Kabul area. By 1998, the Clinton government began efforts to seize Osama bin Ladin whom it believed to be a terrorist leader. A firing of US rockets into Afghani territory failed in its attempt to kill bin Ladin. Other efforts to neutralize Osama bin Ladin failed. The Afghanistan government did not effectively cooperate with these efforts. The US government decided that Osama bin Ladin was the instigator of several terrorist incidents and, finally, of the Twin Tower/Pentagon attacks on September 11, 2001. The US demanded that the Afghani government arrest Osama bin Ladin and turn him over. It did not do that. The US, with a world-wide coaltion of forty two nations, entered the country on October 7, 2001.

The Doser mentions this because the US appears to be at an historical turning point: whether to accept defeat and withdraw from Afghanistan or materially increase the military commitment there.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the US/UN commander in Afghanistan has announced that, without more troops being committed to the Afghanistan war, it will soon be impossible to win the war.