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Yet they get FAVORABLE coverage from our own PRESS.
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Haven't seen much of that, if any,,, must be reading different news reports than some.
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Their politicians and Generals are at least as corrupt and self serving as our own pols are.
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Not even close.
Corruption within the Afghan Government is deeply entrenched. Compared to them we have NO corruption. Never the less, we have to support them, build them up, try to stabilize things. The current election seem's to be steeped in fraud, man, that is definitely a set back.
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Our troops are second guessed by politicians much more interested in re-election than protecting the USA.
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We should not allow a singular commanding General to obtain everything he wants, when he wants it, no questions asked. While it may SOUND good, there are substantial reasons our Government is setup to review policy decisions. It's slow, clumsy and yet needed. For instance, Gen. McCrystals position right now is that the Afghan Gov. is in immediate or near future danger of collapse and take over by the Taliban. Is it? Some say yes, others no. As a commander in chief I would want opposing view points, more input, before making a decision on how to move forward. Sometimes a General get's it right, sometimes he doesn't. Command NEED'S to be "second guessed", without dismissing their valuable input. Even McCrystal acknowledges that an infusion of an additional 40,000 troops and YEARS of this continued conflict MAY NOT result in a favorable outcome. Maybe we need twice that number? Maybe far less?
Like Afghanistan, the Vietnam conflict was being waged at least a decade before we even got involved. Other countries, before us, "been there done that", got their asses kicked and left. Winning every battle does not win the war in a conflict. Killing more Taliban may win the battle, but without stabilizing the Government it is a hollow victory. In these kind of conflicts there is no clear "victory or defeat". Like with Iraq right now, it will be years, maybe decades before we know the outcome.
Perhaps at some point we will simply have to acknowledge the FACT that the Taliban WILL control Afghanistan and we will have to deal with it as best we can. Suppress Al Queda and turn a blind eye to the harsh treatment of the population by the Taliban. Perhaps they will be the cause of another "killing field" in that country. Perhaps there is nothing we can do about it, as we found out in Vietnam and Korea. There are limits to what we can and cannot do.
When we left these "unfinished wars" there was little else that could have been done. It was time to move on. That might well be the case for Afghanistan at some point, but not now. For now, we fight.