Afghan mission "heading for failure"

A wave of pessimism about the US/NATO project in Afghanistan has hit the news in the past few days. The New York Times ran a long piece by two veteran reporters entitled "How a 'Good War' went bad". The piece details what the authors see as a lacklustre American commitment to state building in Afghanistan - a neglect that has resulted in looming disaster. In Australia, meanwhile, The Age reports on an Australian defense expert's assessment that the Australian military's project in Uruzgan province "will most probably fail".

Small wonder then when an interview with a female MP from Helmand province features her blunt assessment:

The majority of districts [of Helmand] are in the hands of the insurgents. There is not 100 per cent rule of law in the four districts under government control. [see interview here]

Further evidence of the disastrous situation which the US/NATO finds its war in was recently revealed by the Boston Globe:

A Globe investigation found that the [US] military has used Guantanamo Bay not just for terrorists "picked up on the battlefield" -- as Bush has repeatedly asserted -- but also for uncooperative or unruly tribal chieftains, many of whom had been key supporters of the US-led invasion. [link here]