Stanley McChrystal On Afghan War: It's A Draw Between U.S., NATO And Taliban

WASHINGTON (AP)-- The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan says the war is a draw.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal says the momentum of the resurgent Taliban militants has been stopped. But for now, the general says, nobody is winning.

In an interview Thursday on PBS' "NewsHour," McChrystal says he sees significant progress for the allies fighting the Taliban this year.

McChrystal says the insurgency remains serious, with a reach that spans the country and a large number of fighters.

WATCH: McChrystal's interview with "Newshour"

Comments

[Manhajsadiqeen]

05:29 AM on 05/16/2010

At least he is honest when the Western media had reported a virtual victory for NATO just months ago. The America media has placed in the minds of their citizens that the Taliban are more than a bunch of crazed Muslims, easy to find and easy to kill because they are ignorant nor possess the American intelligence. Well, in the Muslim lands, we have been well aware of the capabilities of the Taliban. The US military knew this long ago when they aided the Mujahideen against the Soviets; and yet, the American media castigated them, underestimated their fighting abilities, and branded them as mere terrorist, and guaranteed a American victory. This, I believe will not happen, for the premise for the war of Afghanistan is faulty, immoral and full of lies and designed to send a message to Islam that they will defeat it by using Afghanistan as an example! This is not going to happen!!!!

[carrot-top]

08:36 PM on 05/15/2010

It's a "Draw" because we have rules of engagement, they don't.

[JoeBlough]

02:10 AM on 05/16/2010

That's to protect the 99% of the population that are civilians. Otherwise, we would kill everything over there.

[tc399]

02:41 AM on 05/16/2010

We certainly couldn't do that! Oh, wait......

[Ascoli]

07:53 PM on 05/15/2010

In the words of L.Cohen.....

""Everybody Knows"

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows "

[Pleroma]

06:08 PM on 05/15/2010

Civil war in Iraq is back in the news. Yup.

[Peter Wu]

03:26 PM on 05/15/2010

Maybe we should have asked the Russians or British if it was a good idea to invade Afghanistan with a world power trying to control a tiny, 3rd world country. Now, the question is, "will our retreat look as bad as the Russians and British?"

[corndogsunday]

07:38 PM on 05/15/2010

Why should we ask Britain or Russia anything...last I read they LOST to US.

[tc399]

02:45 PM on 05/15/2010

More news: Do the Pakis know where Osama is? Oh, hell yes! He's a Muslim hero! Are we ever going to catch him? Bahahahahahaha!

[tc399]

02:36 PM on 05/15/2010

Let me mention this....why are a few thousand illiterate Muslims winning a war that is costing us almost 7 BILLION dollars a month to lose? Because they are armed and thus able to fight for their country.
The Iraqis have NEVER been disarmed. Want to take our guns away? The only reason would be so that we cannot fight tyranny.

[Pleroma]

06:06 PM on 05/15/2010

The billions of dollars, OK trillions, are the reason for the season. The season of War and More War, the two US political parties.

Not to worry! Most of the dead people are of the appropriate religion.

Having been against guns for most of my life, I find my understanding to be expanding apace.

[tc399]

07:30 PM on 05/15/2010

I keep hearing that..."I am against guns". Guns are inanimate objects. So are cars and airplanes and rocks and sharp sticks. How can you be 'against' a gun?

[corndogsunday]

07:40 PM on 05/15/2010

The problem is how we have let them define winning. Our definition should be holding criminals(terrorists) accountable for their actions and nothing more...This ISN"T an war of IDEOLOGY...this is a matter of law.

[tc399]

02:28 AM on 05/16/2010

If we can't put our own criminals in jail it seems a bit silly to worry about the ones in Afghanistan that we can never separate from the civilian population.

[tc399]

02:31 PM on 05/15/2010

The Taliban can win by simply going home, after which, WE will have to go home. The reason they bother to fight at all is to keep us engaged on the ground wasting almost 7 BILLION dollars a month while accomplishing nothing.

Where did they learn to do that? Why, WE TAUGHT THEM while they were fighting the Russians. We are also teaching the Iraqis and Pakis how to fight us and paying them billions in the process. When is someone going to smarten up?

[JoeBlough]

02:00 PM on 05/15/2010

First off, it's not a real war. We invaded and are occupying another country and are fighting a small group of people within that country. That's why we have large civilian deaths. An occupation can not be won. We will eventuallt give up. The question is how much money and lives will we waste before we wise up.

[Pleroma]

12:08 PM on 05/15/2010

I suppose "insurgents" are anyone repelling invaders and occupiers.
But this endless chit chat about winning and losing makes plenty of money, especially when the guns start blasting away.
"Corrupt" "powerbrokers" makes him sound like he's talking about the Grand Souk, Washington DC.

[Pleroma]

11:40 AM on 05/15/2010

!The Drug Lords in the Pentagon and elsewhere are winning big!

[tc399]

05:45 AM on 05/15/2010

It's not a 'draw', Stan. The Taliban isn't spending almost 7 BILLION dollars a month. They aren't spending anything. They don't have to. How long can we spend 7 billion dollars a month to wander around that godawful hellhole accomplishing nothing?

THEY ARE WINNING!

[JoeBlough]

02:02 PM on 05/15/2010

For the Taliban, the definition of winning is making us jump through endless, expensive hoops. They have the upper hand.

[Chopin]

01:01 AM on 05/21/2010

Ha, tc, you are a TREASURE. Thanks for your "fact-check" link below.
I relish exposing of bullcrap and cleaning it out. There's so much of that floating around.
Fanned and faved.

[farmilyman]

05:23 AM on 05/15/2010

Our debt would vanish if we stopped all foreign aid, closed foreign military bases, and stopped the proxy wars.

[Chopin]

11:54 PM on 05/14/2010

Time has come for thinking patriotic Americans of all political beliefs to stand and be counted. FACT of American Empire CANNOT be disputed, except by delusional psychiatric cases. Existence of over 700 global American military bases dispel that delusion. If political + military leaders maintain political fiction + psychiatric delusion of "non-empire" doing "police work" or "nation building", they should step down, or be called on it. Fact that USA is global military-economic empire should be confronted honestly, courageously, patriotically, with collective wisdom.

Plenty other empires existed + perished throughout history --- Roman, Greek, Egyptian, Persian, Moorish, Otterman, Mongol, Aztec, Mayan, French, Russian, British, Spanish, German, Japanese, . . . onandon. American Empire is latest incarnation. ALL EMPIRES eventually end, either violently, abruptly, catastrophically, involuntarily, . . . or relatively peacefully, orderly, somewhat gradually, . . . like British Empire evolving into "Commonwealth". The sun did eventually set on British Empire.

America is at crossroads. 13TrillionDollars national debt, 3TrillionDollar Iraq war, . . . the end is in sight, with or without WW3. Now it's American people's turn to seize control of its own destiny with collective wisdom, and start peaceful voluntary disengagement from imperial ambitions and delusions. The MilitaryIndustrialComplex economy is UNSUSTAINABLE.

America is at crossroads. 13TrillionDollars national debt, 3TrillionDollars Iraq war, . . . time is running out, with or without WW3. It's up to collective wisdom and courage of American people to lead the President and Washington onto peaceful disengagement of empire and conversion of bloated militarized

[Chopin]

11:57 PM on 05/14/2010

It's up to collective wisdom and courage of American people to lead the President and Washington onto peaceful disengagement of empire and conversion of bloated militarized economy into healthy civilian economy.

[RhinnoSnot]

12:58 AM on 05/15/2010

America has one of the lowest debt to GNP ratio of Western countries. Its not going broke any time soon.
Our Millitary is one of the reason globalization is possible.This brings economic opportunity to places that have historically had none. It abides by the UCMJ and it is indeed a benevolent force that does not target cilvilians. I do not care what you say.

It is a dangerous world, full of terrorist and dictators. Before the US as a sole Super Power, we had World Wars that killed 10s of millions and destroyed entire civilizations.

Sorry Choppin, you got upset at when I called you out for your attempt to portray Drones as a weapon of mass destruction. There will never be cilivilian free casualty war because our enemy hides behind cilvilians. Sure you can never pull the trigger, but our enemy loves to target and kill scores of innocent cilvilians. So your not protecting civilians when you let these guys go,

[Rambutt]

07:01 PM on 05/14/2010

Meaning:
You keep the drug money and we build the pipeline.