the bulk of the fighting in this battle was done by US combined forces
That is probably true, for this battle. I think you would find, though, that many other invading forces have prevailed over Afghan forces in engagements of this size. They still lost the wars. That is not really relevant to our presence, of course, as we are not trying to conquer Afghanistan or even occupy it for any extended time.
I am not comfortable, though, with the idea of crowing over our accomplishments or patting ourselves on the back to any excessive degree. Our forces performed commendably in Afghanistan. We accomplished one objective, the fall of the Taliban, and failed to accomplish another, the capture of OBL. It would be a terrible mistake to convince ourselves that we have won a decisive victory in the war on terror. We haven't. It would be even worse to convince ourselves that we are invincible, and that all succeeding steps in this conflict will be taken as expeditiously and at as little cost as this one. Perspective must be maintained.
Meanwhile, I am not happy that the focus of the war on terror seems to be getting diverted onto states that have less connection to OBL or 9/11, and I am hoping very fervently that the most important part of this war - the effort to root out the al Quaeda structure already in place in the West - is going as well as the effort in Afghanistan. |
