No Long Slog

With recent attacks in Afghanistan, more coalition soldiers as well as more American soldiers have been killed this month than at any other time during the war. That was expected, due to escalation. And yet, Robert Gates seems to recognize that there will be a tolerance limit for many Americans.

fter eight years, U.S.-led forces must show progress in Afghanistan by next summer to avoid the public perception that the conflict has become unwinnable, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said in a sharp critique of the war effort.

Gates said that victory was a "long-term prospect" under any scenario and that the U.S. would not win the war in a year's time. However, U.S. forces must begin to turn the situation around in a year, he said, or face the likely loss of public support.

"After the Iraq experience, nobody is prepared to have a long slog where it is not apparent we are making headway," Gates said in an interview. "The troops are tired; the American people are pretty tired."

I agree. Americans actually support the President, for now, in Afghanistan, and continue to believe that the war was worth fighting, by a bare majority. But that support is slipping, and more headlines about record high death tolls will probably keep those numbers eroding.

Eventually, some crazy news outlet might even send a reporter to the Hindu Kush to see what's going on over there...