Sunday, April 15, 2012

US claims Taliban attacks are "clear sign of our progress"

Taliban fighters launched seven simultaneous attacks in the Afghan capital today.

The attacks come less than a month after Senators Lieberman, McCain and Graham penned an op-ed in the Washington Post called Sustaining Success in Afghanistan, an article that pushes wishful thinking into the realm of self-delusion by taking as its point of departure the premise that there is some "success" to sustain.

Today's Taliban attack is one of the most serious in Kabul since the Talibs were routed in 2001. If there is a momentum to be seen in Afghanistan, which side is it favoring? Facts on the ground would suggest that it is the Taliban who are sustaining success.

Nevertheless the usual spin barrage came from the usual sources today. Hillary condemned the attacks as "cowardly".

Ambassador Ryan Crocker actually managed to turn it into a good news story. Good news for us, at that! Somehow the fact that eleven years after their defeat the Taliban can launch attacks at will in the capital is a "clear sign of progress"!

Crocker must be thrilled that while our progress was manifesting itself in Kabul today, just over the border in Pakistan 400 Taliban and al-Qaeda militants were sprung from a Pakistani prison.

There'll be lots more signs of our progress in the weeks and months ahead!

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