Afghan War at a Stalemate

I came across an article on Military.com  talking about the shift in focus from Iraq to Afghanistan. According to the article, no one in the Obama Administration will say that we are winning in the Afghan conflict, and I don’t think the American people will either. It has been almost six years since former President Bush declared “Mission Accomplished”, yet what did we accomplish exactly? I am sure there are a multitude of answers for that question depending on your political persuasion, but in my opinion: not much. After September 11th, the American people were angry, and rightfully so. People wanted answers, results and vengeance. The original focus of our vengeance was Afghanistan, but somehow we got lost on the way in Iraq. So we settled in, got comfy and decided to spread the democracy. I suppose some people say that its noble. I suppose that some people say it was the right thing to do, how could we let a dictator rule in this day and age? But 7 ½ years later we have little to show for our efforts other than a growing national debt, mounting troop casualties, and the promise that we will step up our efforts in Afghanistan:

Even with these additional forces, I have to tell you that 2009 is going to be a tough year,” Obama’s top commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David McKiernan, said after Obama approved 17,000 additional forces to target the spreading insurgency in southern Afghanistan.

McKiernan called the war in the south “at best stalemated,” but said the new troops can gain a toehold. The semantic space between losing and “not winning,” as Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen has said, leaves room for the military turnaround that U.S. leaders hope will come this year or next.

Is Afghanistan the “right war”? Is there a right war? I am not so certain.  Should we step up our efforts just to “not lose” but “not win”?  I guess its just an effort to save face.  In the last 8 years we have looked like bullies, and I suppose the thinking behind it is that we need to finally do what we set out to originally do.  But my question is, after all this time will it make a difference? 

What bothers me the most I suppose is the way that the number of troop casualties are referenced:

Military analysts have warned that U.S. casualties could double this year. Already, U.S. deaths in Afghanistan increased threefold during the first two months of 2009 compared with the same period last year – numbers that have daunted U.S. officials as they turn their attention from Iraq to the new battle lines in Afghanistan.

I understand that this phrase is being used for comparative purposes, but have the analysts, media, and American people forgotten that these casualties are real people?  That they have families and loved ones that they are leaving behind? It bothers me that we are getting a warning that more people are going to die. Members of our military family.

So now that we have gotten ourselves stuck smack dab in the middle of this mess we need to figure out a way to get out of it.  Not to get further in.  While no one will want to “lose” the war, does anyone really think that in the end someone will win?