McClatchy: 7 Years Later, Wars Grind On

Source: McClatchy Newspapers

7 years later, wars grind on
As the Taliban and al-Qaida strengthen, a U.S. official warns of 'running out of time.'

JONATHAN S. LANDAY AND SAEED SHAH, McClatchy Newspapers

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN - Seven years after 9/11, al-Qaida and its allies are gaining ground across the region where the plot was hatched, staging their most lethal attacks yet against NATO forces and posing a growing threat to the U.S.-backed governments in Afghanistan and nuclear-armed Pakistan. While there have been no new strikes on the U.S. homeland, the Islamic insurrection inspired by Osama bin Laden has claimed thousands of casualties and displaced tens of thousands of people, and it shows no sign of slackening in the face of a powerful military force.

- snip -

"I am not convinced we are winning it in Afghanistan," Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, conceded before a congressional committee Tuesday.

Experts inside and outside the U.S. government agreed that a key reason for the resurgence is a growing popular sympathy for the militants because an over-reliance on the use of force, especially airpower, by NATO has killed hundreds of civilians.

- snip -

Mullen said he is examining "a new, more comprehensive strategy for the region," an acknowledgement that the current approach lacks coordinated reconstruction and humanitarian programs. "We cannot kill our way to victory," said Mullen, who warned that the United States and its allies "are running out of time."

Read more: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1214471.html

But we are killing our way to total utter defeat.