Newsweek; Losing Afghanistan.

[LynnTheDem]

Five years after the Afghan invasion, the Taliban are fighting back hard, carving out a sanctuary where they—and Al Qaeda's leaders—can operate freely.

You don't have to drive very far from Kabul these days to find the Taliban.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14975282/site/newsweek/

bush; a fuck-up from the day he slithered into the world.

[lonestarnot]

1. Did you have different expectations for a guy from Slitherine?

[RamboLiberal]

2. Check this - Newsweek Intl has this as cover - U.S. gets photographer

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Newsweek_features_Losing_Afghanistan_in_international_0925.html

The United States edition of the October 2, 2006 issue of Newsweek features a radically different cover story from its International counterparts, RAW STORY has learned.

The cover of International editions, aimed at Europe, Asia, and Latin America, displays in large letters the title "LOSING AFGHANISTAN," along with an arresting photograph of an armed jihadi.

The cover of the United States edition, in contrast, is dedicated to celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz and is demurely captioned "My Life in Pictures."

The International cover story begins:

"You don't have to drive very far from Kabul these days to find the Taliban. In Ghazni province's Andar district, just over a two-hour trip from the capital on the main southern highway, a thin young man, dressed in brown and wearing a white prayer cap, stands by the roadside waiting for two NEWSWEEK correspondents. It is midday on the central Afghan plains, far from the jihadist-infested mountains to the east and west. Without speaking, the sentinel guides his visitors along a sandy horse trail toward a mud-brick village within sight of the highway. As they get closer a young Taliban fighter carrying a walkie-talkie and an AK-47 rifle pops out from behind a tree. He is manning an improvised explosive device, he explains, in case Afghan or U.S. troops try to enter the village."

Covers: Europe, Asia, Latin America, U.S.

[Tom Rinaldo]

6. Newsweek International also has Wes Clark blasting Bush on Afghanistan

Here is the link to Clark's Op-Ed that Newsweek USA isn't running:

"What We Must Do Now
Success is possible. But make no mistake. We are not winning."

By Wesley K. Clark
Newsweek International

Oct. 2, 2006 issue

By Wesley K. Clark
Newsweek International

"In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, U.S. forces achieved a rapid, high-tech victory over Afghanistan's terrorist-supporting Taliban government. Five years later, the Taliban is back. But this is a different fight. Not only Afghanistan but NATO itself is at risk. Fingers are pointing. Washington didn't commit enough forces. The Europeans are too timid. The central government is weak. All that might be true. But the real problem grows out of how the United States defined its mission to begin with. That was to strike the Taliban but not get stuck in Afghanistan. We don't do "nation-building," American leaders declared, as if that were something to be proud of. Besides, the troops would soon be needed in Iraq.

The fact is that Afghanistan was a tribal country savaged by 20 years of war and further brutalized by the fundamentalist Taliban. Its infrastructure, educational system, agriculture—all was gone. With the Taliban in retreat, traditional warlords reestablished themselves. Vital political and economic assistance never arrived. Neither did a sufficiently strong international security force. Instead, a few thousand U.S. troops were inserted to pursue the remnants of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. The government of Hamid Karzai, pieced together, was never able to extend its reach much outside Kabul. The results today are a mockery of early optimism. Despite the presence of almost 40,000 NATO troops, security has worsened. Opium has again become a major business, infrastructure redevelopment lags, schools remain closed—and across great swathes of the country the Taliban is resurgent...


...All of this is a far cry from the lessons NATO and the United States gleaned from their successful peacekeeping operations in the Balkans. There we learned that we needed strong legal authorities, overwhelming military power, a comprehensive political and economic plan and close coordination with a high representative or special representative for the U.N. secretary-general to link nation-building activities on the ground with our military security operations. We put more than 40,000 troops into tiny Kosovo in 1999, with one tenth the population and one sixtieth the area of Afghanistan. In Bosnia, we had an international donors organization that measured progress and held contributing nations accountable. We knew that if the political-economic mission failed, NATO would fail. And we were determined not to fail."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14973488/site/newsweek/

There's more at the site and it is well worth reading.

[Imagevision]

3. Really must search, MSM not reporting enough on Afganistan...

[OhioChick]

4. Newsweek Scrubs "Losing Afghanistan"

from US cover.

More: http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Newsweek_features_Losing_Afghanistan_in_international_0925.html

[countryjake]

5. This is concerning "that other war", but Lynn, have you seen this...

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0609/25/ltm.01.html

~snip~

M. O'BRIEN: So what you're suggesting is, Michael, there's so much dissension within the ranks that we're seeing leaks like this and we probably should expect to see more in the future?

WARE: Well, all I can tell you is this, that we see these leaks coming out over the recent weeks. They're very selective and they're very much on point with regard to the strength of al Qaeda.

What I can tell you about is the shift in the mood that I've experienced here. I've watched it develop over a year. But in recent months, it's boiled even further. You talk to top American commanders and they can only thinly veil their frustration. The essential attitude is, I'm doing what I can here in Iraq with what little I've been given. Just don't expect me to smile about it.

They're now starting to see the grind between the military and the political start to take its effect. And I suspect what I'm getting here on the ground, the military has almost had enough and it may be time for radical solutions.

Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Michael Ware in Baghdad, thank you very much.

[BlooInBloo]

7. This really says all there is to be said about the media....