Obama in a fix

AS the generals' pressure for a big surge of troops in Afghanistan rises and President Obama's popular rating drops for carrying on an unwinnable war, there comes the news of mounting casualties, with a record number of GIs getting wounded and crippled. (According to the Pentagon sources, the death toll has remained consistently high between 70 and 80 in each of the past four months and the number of the amputees and the injured has crossed the 1,000 mark since September.) US Military's medical services are strained and there is fear of the injured and the sick receiving less-than-needed attention. NATO allies, Bush's "coalition of the willing", continue as usual to balk at jumping into the arena and prefer staying away at a safe distance. The enemy they face is gaining strength and seems to be cropping up everywhere, to their deathly discomfiture.
Pakistan Army's swift operation in Swat and now its courageous advance into the treacherous South Waziristan put the mightiest military force and its handpicked allies to shame. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton got a taste of the seething anti-American sentiments of the people of Pakistan, a key ally in the war on terror. In Afghanistan, the dream of democratic legitimacy of the government to be established through fair presidential elections vanishes, first with massive rigging and now with the refusal of Abdullah Abdullah, the runner-up in the first round, to participate in the run-off polls.