Bogged down in Stanleygrad.

I'll start with the good:

Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- Another senior Afghan Taliban leader has been arrested in Pakistan, two Pakistani intelligence officials told CNN on Monday.

Security forces arrested Mullah Abdul Kabir last week from a religious school in the district of Nowshera, 54 miles (88 km) northwest of Islamabad, the officials said.

"This arrest underscores a change in Pakistan's policy," Gul said. "This suggests their level of cooperation with the U.S. is much better than in the past."

Gul said the new level of cooperation could be in response to Washington's recent decision to tone down its criticism of the Pakistani military.

"The Pakistani military has finally convinced the U.S. military establishment not to publicly condemn it," said Gul. "When you criticize the Pakistani military publicly, it reduces room for maneuvering for Pakistan's institutions. It becomes difficult for the military to motivate the lower and middle rank officers. Finally, there is a much better equation between both military establishments."

This is a key flaw in American in particular and Western foreign policy in general. When you talk smack about people that you would like to do your dirty work, it's hardly likely to make them willing to put themselves out on your behalf. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" is a cornerstone of Realpolitik (even if not worded quite that bluntly) and there are times to shut up. More times in my opinion than there are to gob off about how other countries are handling their internal problems.

Now, the Bad:

The Afghan cabinet has revised the death toll from a NATO airstrike in the centre of the country down to 27 civilians killed, from 33 previously.

On Saturday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai admonished NATO troops for not doing enough to protect civilian lives. During a speech at the opening session of the Afghan parliament, Karzai called for extra caution on the part of NATO, which is currently conducting a massive offensive on the southern Taliban stronghold of Marjah in neighbouring Helmand province.

"We need to reach the point where there are no civilian casualties," Karzai said. "Our effort and our criticism will continue until we reach that goal."

Bullshit; when the opposition is using human shields this will simply not happen.

And last but far from least, the Ugly (from the main link):

MARJAH, Afghanistan — Outnumbered and outgunned, Taliban fighters are mounting a tougher fight than expected in Marjah, Afghan officials said Sunday, as U.S.-led forces converged on a pocket of militants in a western section of the town.

U.S. officials signalled their intention to attack Marjah, a major Taliban supply and opium-smuggling centre, months ago, apparently in hopes the insurgents would flee and allow the U.S.-led force to take over quickly and restore an Afghan government presence.

Instead, the insurgents rigged Marjah with bombs and booby traps to slow the allied attack, which began Feb. 13. Teams of Taliban gunmen stayed in the town, delivering sometimes intense volleys of gunfire on Marine and Afghan units slogging through the rutted streets and poppy fields.

Afghan Defence Ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi said the U.S. and its allies had expected the Taliban to leave behind thousands of hidden explosives, which they did. But they were surprised to find that so many militants stayed to fight.

"Surprised", eh? Me, not so much. What the fuck did you THINK they would do if you gave them months (unmolested) to prepare? I know what I'd do in their place; each of my most zealous jihadis would be built multiple fortresses within the town with enough bombs, grenades, RPGs and small arms ammo to stage hit and run attacks every time the infidels turned a corner. Oh wait, that's they did too...

I will say it here as unequivocally as I can: Gen. Stanley McCrystal's strategy for Afghanistan is stupid. Yes, stupid, rather like Hitler's decision to leave 6th Army in Stalingrad when the Soviets enveloped it, although the scale of the impending (military) disaster is of course smaller. If you wanted to do this, (it has been done in Fallujah) give the townies 24 hours notice to leave. That's enough time to sauve qui peut and let the Taliban small fry take off (the intent here) and NOT allow them months to mine and fortify the whole town.

Months of warning and they're still killing heaps (not really, but the media...) of civilians because they're being used as shields, and just because of standard war type stuff. Errant MLRS missiles wouldn't kill civvies who aren't there, and our side wouldn't be bogged down (in what I'll call Stanleygrad) if the good General's strategy had any firm basis in ground truth.

There are some signs of hope (see top) over there, but this is NOT one of them, and a public relations minefield to boot. Hopefully this debacle gets a new commander over there, but I'm not holding my breath waiting on that.