In Afghanistan:
The death in southern Afghanistan brought to 40 the number of U.S. troops killed in July, by far the heaviest monthly toll in the 8-year-old war. The worst previous month for U.S. forces was in September 2008, when 26 were killed.
Within a few months we will have occupied Afghanistan for eight years. Eight years, and the Taliban still exists. Al Qaeda still exists. The central government we helped create is corrupt, ineffective, and controls little of the country, if anything, outside Kabul. The illegal drug trade is thriving. We kill innocent civilians as often as we kill those Taliban members who fight against us. We have the strongest, most deadly military in the world, but we cannot enforce the peace.
Which begs the questions: what exactly have we accomplished, what do we hope to accomplish and what are we doing over there? Do you have any good answers for those? I don’t.