With a recent, albeit belated, viewing in mind of Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington's documentary Restrepo (2010), I found a headline in today's Onion (a parody newspaper) all the more poignant: "U.S. Forces Take Over Key Afghan City That Will Be Retaken By Taliban When Marines Leave."
I bring this up not to make light of the situation, of course; the headline is acute. I'm unaware of Junger and Hetherington's goals in making Restrepo; Junger generally seems more interested in the experience of war rather than its causes and underpinnings, for reasons I'll speculate to myself. The film is well made, however, and what it accomplishes - intended or not - is displaying the tragic futility of US operations in that country (and Pakistan).
These operations should never have commenced - a minority view I have held since even prior to them doing so. That they've gone on for nine years is an inconceivable misdeed against the people of Afghanistan and the US-NATO military personnel sent to participate in such an exercise.
Two more articles today further drove home the point:
Ahmed Rashid, scholar and BBC guest:
Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera analyst:
