Fwd: this does not exude confidence in our effort in Afghanistan

[rich]

it would be funny if it wasn't so fucked up.

a good piece on counterinsurgency in Afghanistan

yikes

The Americans have failed to convince Afghans that they should want
them to stay, and Afghans certainly have not been convinced of
Karzai’s legitimacy. There are just too many blunders. In September
2009 a British plane dropped a box of leaflets that failed to open.
The box landed on a girl and killed her. Given that most Afghans are
illiterate, its contents would have made no difference anyway.

http://www.bostonreview.net/BR35.1/rosen.php