More than 300 killed and injured is the cost of the “welcome” given to the U.S Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, by the extremist militants of the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Pakistan. This massacre, which was committed by means of a car bomb in Peshawar, coincided with another massive attack at the heart of Kabul, when the Taliban targeted United Nations employees in order to strike a major blow to the international body's role in Afghanistan. Such attacks provide the latest evidence that al-Qaeda and the Taliban are now in an intensive mode of counter-attack, aimed at challenging the American and NATO forces in Afghanistan, and at proving that these latter will be unable to achieve any victory... Also, the demoralization of the West in what concerns the fight against terror would inevitably exacerbate the unpopularity of the military option in confronting both al-Qaeda and the Taliban, all while the U.S President Barack Obama is still hesitant and cautious in taking a decision in what regards the new strategy for the war in Afghanistan. If this caution being shown is justified by the need to reduce American losses there – after having reached their highest levels since the ousting of the Taliban from power in 2001 -, then it is this same caution that is encouraging the Taliban fighters to capitalize on the hesitation in Washington to ambush its soldiers, augment the list of their dead, and multiply the number of their caskets. Meanwhile, it is clear that the Taliban is answering the proposal by the Obama administration, concerning the admission of “moderates” in the group into the Afghan government – which will be formed after the election fraud allegations are dealt with – with rockets and attacks. What this implies, then, is that “there are no moderates” among the Taliban, and that the war will endure up until its natural conclusion is reached. But then, how will the NATO achieve today, what it has failed to achieve over 8 years? How will it do so when the administration of Hamid Karzai is being accused of watering the tree of corruption, and undermining the credibility of the U.S objectives in Afghanistan, in lieu of strengthening the nascent [Afghan] army? Furthermore, the Taliban is benefiting from the deterioration of Karzai's reputation, as the latter is also accused of rigging the elections, while the Americans have leaked a story about how his brother received payments from the CIA. If the Afghan President is an embarrassment to Washington, then the dilemma it is facing becomes even worse when “the new strategy” to get out of the fiery quagmire will be tested, and for as long as the Taliban continues to believe that the ill reputation of the ruler in Kabul will only help improve its own image (even when its suicide attacks cause the deaths of many innocent civilians). The Taliban also relies on the “mistakes” committed by the NATO forces, which have become an almost daily incident; nonetheless, this of course does not give any indication to as to which party is gaining more popularity among the Afghans, when these latter have become the fuel of the daily rampage. In fact, some [of the Afghan civilians] might be able to lay blame on the U.S forces which the Obama administration will soon decide to send to the densely populated areas, for using civilians as “human shields” to protect themselves from the attacks by the Taliban and al-Qaeda and their suicide bombers... Moreover, this very faux-pas will spur al-Qaeda and the Taliban to accelerate the pace of their attacks against the Western forces, something that will in turn intensify the pressures by the public opinion in Europe and America to end the war. But at what cost [will this occur] then? Will the cost be handing out a victory to the adversary that the United States sent its armies to oust from Kabul in 2001? In fact, Washington has left the civilian administration in Afghanistan to be run by Karzai, while the United States and its allies would handle the fighting in the field. However, absolutely nothing came out from this [civilian] aspect of the mission mentioned above; as such, the Obama administration fears that a compounded null might be the end result of the entire war, where years of destruction, bloodshed and billions of dollars spent on the war will all go to waste. The alternative to this meanwhile is that Washington should engage the Taliban, or in other words, should accept to normalize its relations with the ally of al-Qaeda! But what kind of alternatives does the region have, when the prospect of the Taliban returning to rule its “emirate” in Afghanistan is the omen of a dreadful danger that also threatens to bring down the nuclear state in Pakistan, leaving it up for grabs by a nuclear...al-Qaeda. Is it not an indication of a new phase [of the war] that Pakistani army generals are being hunted down at daylight in Islamabad, and after the Pakistani army's pride has been injured when its headquarters were stormed in Rawalpindi? In fact, when the army pursues the Taliban in Waziristan, the latter responds inside the cities. Also, while this army reiterates that it is confident of its firm control of the nuclear arsenal, it certainly is not being reassured by the American pledges, especially when Washington responded previously very quickly in everything that was related to enhancing India's strength, while being reluctant for too long with Pakistan, under the pretext of the bitter experiences of Islamabad's support for the war against the Taliban or al-Qaeda. Obama's perplexed eyes are now centred on Afghanistan, whose caves have succeeded in hurting the most powerful country in the world, while the region's heart thumps in worry over Pakistan, where it is feared that the state will soon be assassinated also by those same Afghan caves of al-Qaeda.
