Who'll outlast whom?

IFTEKHAR A. KHAN
Some of us have argued consistently that situation in Afghanistan will ultimately depend on which of the two warring forces had more resilience to suffer human losses. Will the Afghans give up first or the US-led occupation force of NATO troops, weary of taking body bags, quit? General Stanley McChrystal's demand for 40,000 more troops suggests the situation is fast spinning out of control of the ISAF. Recall General McChrystal who commanded Joint Operations Command and had been running camp NAMA (nasty ass military area), an interrogation and torture centre near Baghdad, had taken over from General David McKiernan in Afghanistan. McKiernan was summarily discharged from service for asking for 10,000 more troops in Afghanistan. His successor now asks for 40,000 more, while Mr Barack Obama vacillates what to do. In his Pittsburgh address after the G20 meeting he warned there were no "perfect answers" in Afghanistan. "I will ultimately make this decision based on what will meet that core goal that I had set out at the beginning, which is to dismantle, disrupt and destroy the Al-Qaeda network," he asserted. Coinciding with the address was the NATO announcement of the death of five more US soldiers.
Since his takeover on February 18, President Barack Obama has considered the Afghan war his own and thinks it "necessary" to win. Indeed his stakes as first black occupant of the White House are high. But he must ask himself why 68,000 of his soldiers, 40,000 NATO troops, and 75,000 contractors or rented headhunters have failed to turn the war in his favour. He will do well to rummage into his archive to refresh his memory about the Vietnam War.
The US in 1961 had 2,000 troops there, in 1964 they escalated to 16,500, in 1965 to 100,000, in 1966 they shot up to 200,000, and at the height of war to 500,000. But the pinkos, the Vietnamese called then, steadfastly stood their ground. After massacring hundreds of thousands of pinkos and suffering a staggering loss of 58,000 soldiers, the US pulled out. In its final bailout from its embassy in Saigon some of its remnants were clutching to foothold of the last helicopter to take off. Is it not a sobering thought, Mr Barack Obama? What is the difference between Vietnamese pinkos of sixties and Afghan Taliban of 21st century? Both fought to rid their ancestral lands of foreign occupiers.