How long will the USA stop living in a state of denial that it is fighting an unwinnable war in Afghanistan? Is this what the USA called a guerilla war, reduced to small bands that can assault Kabul in different locations while simultaneously attacking inside Pakistan, which freed 384 Taliban inmates? When will the USA accept that Afghanistan is Vietnam all over again? Does this “Taliban Spring Offensive” mark the end of the USA’s adventurism in Afghanistan, the same way that the “Tet (New Year) Offensive” of the Vietnam era? Whether the USA likes it or not, time is on the side of the Taliban, and the USA will have to leave one way or another, maybe not now, in 2014, and whether they leave honorably (Iraq) or in utter defeat (Vietnam) is their choice to make. The USA cannot simply win fighting an unconventional war with conventional warfare against an unconventional army of the Taliban (and the Vietcong of Vietnam).
Taliban blitz Kabul with "spring offensive" attacks
By Hamid Shalizi and Jack Kimball | Reuters – 36 minutes agoKABUL (Reuters) - Heavy explosions, rockets and gunfire rattled Kabul on Sunday as Afghanistan's Taliban launched a "spring offensive" with multiple attacks targeting Western embassies, the NATO force's headquarters and the parliament building.
The assault, one of the most serious on the capital since U.S.-backed Afghan forces removed the Taliban from power in 2001, highlighted the ability of militants to strike the heavily guarded diplomatic zone even after more than 10 years of war.
It was also another election-year setback in Afghanistan for U.S. President Barack Obama, who wants to present the long campaign against the Taliban as a success before the departure of most foreign combat troops by the end of 2014.
"These attacks are the beginning of the spring offensive and we had planned them for months," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters.
He said the onslaught was revenge for a series of incidents involving American troops in Afghanistan - including the burning of Korans at a NATO base and the massacre of 17 civilians by a U.S. soldier - and vowed that there would be more such attacks.
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