Afghanistan Forever

Remember last spring? The snows were still melting in the hills overlooking Helmand Valley and American generals were optimists. They had encountered few rebels during the winter and had convinced themselves they were clearing the provinces of Taliban insurgents.

The past eight months have seen important but hard-fought progress in Afghanistan. ~ Gen David Petraeus, Mar. 2011

That was then. Today the Taliban captured an unfinished building in the capital and used it as a platform to bombard the US embassy and the homes of prominent Afghans. There have been repeated Taliban attacks on NATO bases. They haven't over run a base (yet) but they have racked up some impressive casualties with a combination of hit-and-run and suicide bomber attacks.

The official Pentagon calculation for the cost of the Afghan war in 2011 is about $6 billion a month. That is the official number; the actual cost is probably three times that. The Pentagon optimists figure on needing only another 13 years to finish the job.