Afghanistan commander's assessment: FAILURE

The Washington Post has put the truth -- or at least the unclassified version of it -- out there for all to see. Today it published US General Stanley McChrystal's Commander's Initial Assessment of the Afghan war.

Dated 30/8/09, the report to US Defense Secretary Robert Gates is brutally frank. The West is losing the war, McChrystal says, and will have to withdraw in defeat unless more troops are sent to pursue a "radically revised strategy".

The general says failure to reverse "insurgent momentum" in the near term risks a situation in which "defeating the insurgency is no longer possible."

Here are some other pertinent quotes:
"The overall situation is deteriorating."
"Resources will not win this war, but under-resourcing could lose it."
"Failure to provide adequate resources also risks a longer conflict, greater casualties, higher overall costs and ultimately, a critical loss of political support. Any of these risks, in turn, are likely to result in mission failure."

General McChrystal, who already has at his disposal more than 100,000 Western troops, mostly American but including thousands of Canadians, has reportedly drafted a separate request for yet more troops, but has not sent it to the Pentagon.

The idea of putting "more boots on the grounds" faces resistance from within Obama's Democratic Party, which controls Congress. Public opinion in the other NATO countries which might be asked to contribute, is even more strongly against any further commitment.

The obvious course of action is for the Americans to admit that they've made a colossal blunder, and devise a speedy exit strategy. Will that look like cutting and running? Who cares?! As Washington insiders have been heard to say "the jig is up"!