When America Will Risk Casualties

A major element of the new counter-insurgency strategy in Afghanistan is the idea that American lives must be sacrificed for the sake of securing the people of Afghanistan. The U.S. is committing tens of thousands of soldiers to such a mission and already, the death toll is rising.

Flash back to November 2001.U.S. forces have pushed bin Laden and al Qaeda into the mountains of Tora Bora. According to reports at the time and since, Washington declined to risk the lives of U.S. soldiers to stage an assault on bin Laden fearing excessive casualties in the rocky and inhospitable terrain. Instead, they relied on air power and bribes to Afghan warlords. Both failed. Bin Laden escaped.

It's difficult for me to understand why the U.S. would not risk its own soldiers to attempt to kill bin Laden, who had just facilitated the slaughter of 3,000 Americans, but will risk tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers to protect the Afghans from their fellow Afghans.

(AP Photos)