Don’t Panic: Is the Afghan war at a turning point?
Beating Taliban forces on the battlefield again and again is not a turning point
Every few months, the War On Terror™ needs a turning point.
If not an actual turning point, then at least a mythical turning point – an exciting event that allows journalists and pundits discussing the war to say things like “this is a turning point” or “we may be at a turning point” or the ultra weasel-y and kinda passive-aggressive “Are we at a turning point?”
Past War On Terror™ mythical turning points include (but are not limited to): the January 2002 Afghan aid conference in Tokyo, the one where developed nations promised never again to neglect the extreme poverty and disorder that makes Afghanistan rich pickins for scummy Talibanbits and al-Qaidudes; the April 2003 capture of Baghdad by U.S. forces that was supposed to end the Iraq war; the December 2003 capture of Saddam Hussein that was supposed to end the Iraqi insurgency; the 2006 killing of Iraqi al-Qaida leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi that was also supposed to end the Iraqi insurgency; and the numerous parliamentary and presidential elections in Iraq and Afghanistan that were supposed to rally the people of each country behind their respective national leaders.
The U.S. has been fighting the War On Terror™ for eight and a half years – longer than it fought in the two World Wars and Korea combined. You’d think by now we would have outgrown the need for mythical turning points, but a recent series of events in Pakistan have prompted war pundits to start reaching for the T.P. again.
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(Photo illustration by Andisheh Nouraee)