Michael Ubaldi finds that the media hype over Afghanistan doesn’t match the reality on the ground. The media is hyping up the fact that the security situation in Afghanistan is somehow going downhill and thousands of jihadis are flowing into Afghanistan, and well, the media has the littlle QUAGMIRE light flashing… again.
Like the last time the media was shouting QUAGMIRE in Afghanistan was in October and November of 2001. By December, the Taliban was broken and fleeing. They were wrong then, and they’re just as wrong now.
While there are jihadis flooding into Afghanistan, they’re heading straight to their deaths. Every engagement has been overwhelmingly one sided against the jihadis. We’re talking about engagements in which the Taliban fighters are being killed by the score. The situation for those fighting on the side of the Taliban is virtualy guranteed suicide.
There are always those willing to die for the cause, but they’re aren’t enough to make an army. Moreover, those people aren’t likely to sign up to die in some godforsaken mountain in Afghanistan without the chance to even take out one Jew or Crusader.
The mujahadeen were popular because they were winning (thanks to US military aid). The Taliban are losing, and they are losing badly. The last time I checked, engaging in a series of one-sided slaughters of an ill-equipped and ineffective bunch of ragtag militants is not a quagmire – at least not on our side.
