On the other hand, the Taliban terrorists are also taking losses in battles but there is no anti-publicity for them on this account. In any case, the Taliban founder, Maulana Mohammad Umar has no plans to go to polls now or in the future.

 

The Afghans have been proud people. In the Vedic period of history, they had close relations with the ruling dynasty in Delhi or Indraprastha of those days. In the Buddhist period, the Afghans were known as creative artists and sculptors who put life in stone. The larger than life statues of Gautam Buddha at Bamian bore testimony to the creative genius of the Afghans. Their destruction by the Taliban sent signals to the world that the Islamic Afghans have turned to destruction to eradicate what they termed as un-islamic.

 

The Afghans have been fiercely independent by nature. In the Afghan folklore, they recount that the mighty Greek army under Alexander the Great could not subdue them for long. Whenever vanquished by a superior army, they always rared to go and snatch life from the jaws of death.

 

The mighty Mughuls of Delhi lost a lot of territory and prestige in skirmishes with the Afghans. Emperor Akbar had a mighty army despatched under the command of Raja Birbal to subdue them. Alas! the Moghuls lost their commander-in-chief, Raja Birbal in battle. Thereafter, the Moghuls subdued them with money by buying their chiefs. The British rulers followed suit after they lost men, material and prestige in three Anglo-Afghan wars. Names of those officers and men of the Company Bahadur who fell in battle are inscribed on the India Gate and remind us of the Afghan prowess and their spirit of independence.

 

It was in 2001, when United States decided to fight against the Al Qaeda and the Taliban terrorists. The 9/11 incidents of terror had awakened Americans and forced them to launch a fight against terror in Afghanistan. The latter was then under the control of Taliban and USA launched a frontal attack on them with great success. The Taliban were down but not out. They allegedly found shelter and support in Pakistan and have been enjoying their hospitality till today.

 

The American army revelled in success but not for long. The Taliban terrorists regrouped and had the support of the local population who termed this as a war fought by Islam against Christianity. The foreign forces launched many schemes to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people but could not succeed against the daily and weekly Islamic sermons against the infidels. The religious propaganda by Islamic preachers won the hearts and minds of the Afghans and the Americans who talked through translators were a distant second. They lost the propaganda war.

 

General Stanley McChrystal, the commanding general of the NATO forces in Afghanistan in his assessment of the war situation has said that more boots were required on the ground to beat the terrorists in their game of overawing simple citizens. The USA leadership are vary of sending more troops as it costs them dearly in popularity rating. The politicians question the theory of positioning more troops unless there is a change in the strategy that may change the scenario to a winning proposition.

 

The General has emphasised that the insurgents may not be able to defeat the NATO forces but "we can defeat ourselves." He blames the lack of coordination among the NATO contingents and failure to win over the civilian population. He has advised aggressiveness on the part of NATO to snatch the initiative from the Taliban and convert the present reverses into victory by high morale.

 

Last but not the least , the NATO has to pay more attention to the terrorists on the other side of the border. Will Pakistan cooperate with the NATO whole-heartedly? That is a million dollar question that goes unanswered so far.

 

President Obama has been asking that question for quite sometime now. It is understood that he would order additional surge in Afghanistan only if he is convinced that the NATO generals have now devised a strategy that would win the war for the West and beat the terrorists in their own. Win-ability of war is the key question now. A positive answer to this question will write the history saying that the Afghan war was won by the Americans and Europeans; whereas a negative answer would mean another Vietnam.