Taliban Strikes Boldly at Heart of Afghanistan in Coordinated Tet-Like Offensive

Stratfor reported this morning at 0827 GMT that the Taliban had launched a major offensive on Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. As the country's new cabinet was being sworn in, the militant group claimed that 20 homicide bombers were attacking the presidential palace, the central bank and the ministry of finance, along with a number of other government ministries. Terrorists were seen attacking the capital's largest shopping mall, the Grand Afghan Shopping Center, gunmen armed with rocket-propelled grenade launchers seen running back and forth on the second and third floors.



These bold attacks are designed to make a big impression in three ways: first, to show how vulnerable and weak  the democratically elected government is; second, to sow terror in the hearts and minds of the Afghan people; and third and most important, to weaken support among Western countries for continuing the mission to stabilize Afghanistan.

To anyone old enough, hearing the news of the Taliban's daylight attack this morning was like waking up 42 years ago to news of the Tet offensive in South Vietnam.

And just as with the Vietnam War, you're certain in the next week to hear liberal politicians and pundits moan that the war in Afghanistan is lost. In many cases, it will be the same people after Tet who led the exodus out of Vietnam. Remember Harry Reid's brilliant conclusion in 2006, "The war (in Iraq) is lost," just before the Surge turned the tide?

I don't want to minimize the level of effort that will be required if that hell hole known as Afghanistan is ever to be pacified. But thousands of U.S. troops promised this fall by Pres. Obama should be in country beginning this month. And if U.S. commanders could be unshackled and allowed to take it to the house, instead of fighting defensively, this might be the last coordinated daytime attack on a civilian population that we'll see out of this place.

But I can't help wondering something.  For six months Pres. Obama dithered on sending 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, troops requested by the U.S. commander Stanley McCrystal. Instead of acting quickly on the request, the president consulted his lawyers and held counsel with political advisors who had no experience in these matters, all the while checking the polls to see how granting Gen. McCrystal's request would play with his far left political base. In the meantime, the Taliban was re-arming, planning, and moving out. Ultimately, after 6 months of Hamlet-like deliberation, the President assented to part of McCrystal's request, playing to both left and right and pleasing neither. If the President has just agreed to the troop surge without the drama those troops would be in place now. So I wonder: Would the Taliban have been bold enough or strong enough to try and pull off this morning's terror attack? I doubt it.

Just thought you might like to know.