The upcoming campaign for the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar will be the crucial test for the United States’ military and the Obama administration’s AfPak strategy. It will clearly be an epic military battle and a test of the intellectual movement for counterinsurgency within the military known as COIN. But, like the battle for Marja in February, will the battle for Kandahar be more about the “perceptions” of American victory than about real success?And managing perceptions is extremely important in any fake democracy.
These journalists see a growing disaffection among NATO members as well as among the people in the US to continue this war. Hence the Empire's ruling class has some real dilemmas to confront.