US hope of victory in Afghanistan dims

World Report | Chen Weihua in New York

With the death toll of US soldiers in Afghanistan surpassing 2,000 this month, citizens of the United States have shown less patience and confidence in the nearly 11-year-old war.

On Wednesday, the New York Times ran a four-page list of the US soldiers killed in Afghanistan since October 2001, a month after the September 11 attack in New York.

At an average age of 26 for those killed, 1,000 of the deaths occurred in the first nine years. US President Barack Obama's 30,000-troop surge in 2009 has brought more casualties to US soldiers in this war - also known as Operation Enduring Freedom - with another 1,000 dead since May 18, 2010.

While Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney have hardly mentioned the Afghan war in their election campaigns, which have been focusing mainly on jobs and the economy, Americans are again reminded of the longest war in US history by high-profile attacks in recent days.

On Tuesday, the C-17 aircraft used by General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, was hit by one of two insurgent rockets in the Bagram airfield in Afghanistan. The Taliban later claimed responsibility.

In the past months, there have been an increasing number of so-called green-on-blue attacks, with Afghan forces in green uniforms firing on US troops. In total, 40 have been killed so far this year in 32 incidents, compared with 35 killed in 21 attacks in 2011.

Meanwhile, the death of 40 US servicemen in Afghanistan in July also made it the deadliest month of the year. Personal grievances and anti-American sentiment have been cited as reasons for Afghan forces turning against the US troops who trained them.

Analysts believe these incidents will further weaken US public support for the war and foreshadow a gloomy future for Afghanistan after 2014, when US troops pull out from the country.

A Pew Center survey released in April showed that public support for maintaining US forces in Afghanistan reached a new low.

Stephen Biddle, a leading expert on Afghanistan and professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, expressed deep concerns that the recent killings of US servicemen by Afghan soldiers and police will threaten US political support for the war, such as funding for an Afghan force after NATO-led allies leave in 2014.

Biddle, who is also an adjunct senior fellow for defense policy at the Council on Foreign Relations, says he is "significantly less optimistic" than before about the situation. "Our ability to drive the war to a successful conclusion on the battlefield is nil at this point," he said.

Marvin Kalb, a veteran journalist and a guest scholar on foreign policy at the Brookings Institution, described the recent incidents as a depressing signal.

In Kalb's eyes, Afghans don't want Americans in their country just like Iraqis didn't want Americans.

He criticized Obama for a lack of candor on the issue.

"When talking to American troops, he sounds positive and even optimistic. When he acts, though, he looks like a president hurrying to the nearest door. All combat troops out by the end of December 2014. All combat operations over by December 2013," Kalb wrote on Brookings' website.

Max Boot, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, has warned that achieving the minimum goal in Afghanistan - to prevent the Taliban from returning to power - would require substantial US commitment.

But for a country saddled with $15 trillion in national debt and a high unemployment, the US seems to lack the resources and resolve to accomplish the mission in the war-torn nation.

Contact the writer at chenweihua@chinadaily.com.cn

New Zealand announced on Monday that it will withdraw its troops from Afghanistan in early 2013. Five New Zealand soldiers were killed this month.

Other nations, including the Netherlands and Canada, have already brought home their troops in the past two years. France, a major contributor of troops to the International Security Assistance Force, will leave Afghanistan at the end of this year.