No Hope for Afghanistan

John Kerry writes in the Wall Street Journal today that we are losing in Afgnistan:

Funded largely by a flourishing opium trade, a resurgent Taliban effectively controls entire swathes of southern Afghanistan. Roadside bomb attacks have more than doubled this year, and suicide attacks have more than tripled. Britain's commander in Afghanistan recently said that "the intensity and ferocity of the fighting is far greater than in Iraq on a daily basis."

To say we are losing is an overstatement. However, Kerry notes the real difficulty about Afghanistan:

The Taliban's resurgence comes as no surprise when 40% of the population is unemployed and 90% lack regular electricity. As Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry recently said, "wherever the road ends, that's where the Taliban starts."

The problem with Afghanistan is that it is more or less impossible to reform or rebuild. A sustainable political victory is thus impossible, which is why Osama wanted us to come there so we would lose. The population is so impovershed that it will never be able to sustain itself against determined religions fanatics without our help. We should tread lightly in Afghanistan.