Back to square one
The Iraq and Afghan wars have cost the U.S. taxpayer upwards of $2 trillion thus far -- and the meter is still running in both theaters.
In Afghanistan, after 12 years of combat operations and the costly training and equipping of a 360,000-strong army, and the loss of 2,800 U.S. killed in action, Taliban, the enemy we went in to defeat, is making steady gains around the capital.The Vietnam syndrome is in the air and SIGAR, the U.S. government investigative agency, is reporting abandonment of some U.S.-funded aid projects that can no longer be protected, let alone inspected.This week, SIGAR said the U.S. Defense Department cannot trace over 40 percent of the weapons it turned over to Afghan security forces. Many of them found their way into the black market -- and Taliban's hands.Afghan security forces are under steadily increasing fire around Kabul, the capital, and have sustained heavy casualties. This goes largely unreported.
