Afstan: Responses to Sen. Kenny's (and others') defeatism

The way the wind is blowing:

Sen. Colin Kenny throws in the Afghan towel/Pelosi pooping

Some, er, blow-back.

1) Paul at Celestial Junk:

Afghanistan Naysayers: Ignoring a Sea Change

...Some of the more ludicrous reckonings state that because Canada is taking casualties ... we are losing. When, I ask, ever in the history of the world did taking casualties mean one was losing a war? In fact, any student of history will tell you that winning moments in war usually came simultaneously with a time of sustaining maximum casualties. Looking back no further than WW1, WW2, and Korea ... the most critical victories were also times of great sacrifice.

Most offensive to me, personally, is the attack from some quarters on Afghan civilians (as opposed to Afghan leadership). Afghans don’t want our schools, our hospitals, warm clothing, vaccines, and peace because they are, after all, just barbarians, or so goes the argument. Tell that to the thousands of children risking their lives to attend schools, tell that to those girls who return even after being hopelessly scarred by acid attacks...tell that to Governor General Michaelle Jean [video here]...

2) Terry Glavin:

"We are hurtling toward a Vietnam ending."

Eight years since the horror in New York and Washington forced the civilized world to face up to its obligations in Afghanistan, a recurring and predictable pessimism is abroad in the world's comfortable classes, coinciding, as it absurdly and routinely does, with a revival of pluck and optimism among ordinary Afghans...

Quite properly, everyone of good will is watching and hoping for the best and cleanest result from the horribly bollocksed Afghan presidential elections, not least the millions of brave Afghans who defied Taliban threats and voted. But can we at least agree to avoid juvenile comparisons with the recent Iranian sham? We might take the time to remember what Iran is, and what it is not. We might also remember what Afghanistan was eight years ago, and what it is now...

...There are a dozen universities, several dozen newspapers, radio stations and television stations, and one in six Afghans owns a cellular phone. Five million refugees have returned. More than 80 per cent of the people have access to basic medical services. Almost all children have been immunized against polio and childhood diseases. The big debate in Afghanistan these days is whether the incumbent president, who was elected peacefully four years ago, has earned enough votes in a scandal-plagued run for a second term to avoid a runoff against his nearest rival.

Somehow, none of this sounds like "a Vietnam ending" to me. It certainly isn't evidence for an argument to "retreat."

Go figure.