noun: a difficult, precarious, or entrapping position

The situation in Afghanistan is getting more complicated everyday. This is a nation basically ran by regional warlords and their heroin factories. The only "legitimate" government in the country is quickly becoming not so legitimate with the recent fraudulent re-election of President Hamid Karzai. We are trying to fight and win a war in a country that no international force has EVER been able to conquer. (I mean no one ever has been able to conquer this place...Alexander the Great tried, Genghis Khan tried, the USSR tried...)

I recently stumbled on this article from The Onion:

U.S. Continues Quagmire-Building Effort in Afghanistan

"We've spent a lot of time and money fostering the turmoil and despair necessary to make this a sustaining quagmire, and we're not going to stop now," President Barack Obama said in a national address Monday night. "It won't be easy, but with enough tactical errors on the ground, shortsighted political strategies, and continued ignorance of our vast cultural differences, we could have a horrific, full-fledged quagmire by 2012."

...

With more than 80 percent of the country currently under Taliban control, Defense Secretary Robert Gates argued that U.S. nation-dismantling efforts are actually proceeding ahead of schedule.

"We've made a complete mess of local institutions, and moving forward this substantial lack of infrastructure will be the cornerstone of our strategy to ensure long-term chaos in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region," said Gates, gesturing to a complex, 6-foot-tall wall map of what were either newly established al-Qaeda bases in Waziristan, tribal trade routes over the Hindu Kush, or perhaps U.S. military outposts of some kind. "I couldn't be happier with our progress.

(This is The Onion so there is a little bit of language...just a warning. Also click on the map of Afghanistan. It's pretty funny :) )

I know it is supposed to be satire but the scary thing is, is that it isn't to far from the truth.

The best thing the US can do know is band together with other nations in order to support the rebuilding of this country. We need to support education, economic growth, and find a way to make opium less profitable. We need to focus on humanitarian and diplomatic efforts rather than military. Finding Taliban leaders and punishing them for there crimes is very important but the best way to do that is with small forces not a huge occupying force. The Taliban is a guerrilla force and we should be using guerrilla tactics to fight them. This means Special Forces and Secret Ops. This is also a matter of international cooperation and creating sustainable long-term stability in Middle eastern countries. We need true allies not ones that are scared (or defensive) about perceived American Imperialism.