Bombs fall, someone is killed, and their neighbors swear that these people weren't Taliban. End of story?

Would be much simpler if the enemy wore uniforms. The miracle is that there are so few civilian casualties, certainly far fewer than in any other war we've ever fought against properly uniformed enemies that actually paid attention to the conventions of war. In WWII, there was no such thing as "hearts and minds" until the enemy was utterly crushed. Military objectives could not successfully hide among civilians. Good God, we atom bombed two Japanese cities, and those weren't even the worst attacks of the war. After victory was achieved, then you saw reconstruction and aid.

According to the news story you linked, far more civilians die at the hands of the Taliban. "Hearts and minds" has two sides. Oddly, I don't see MSNBC interviewing people suffering losses from terrorist attacks on their opinions of the Taliban. Not the story Al Jazeera West cares to tell, I guess.

"Psy-war victory for the Taliban." A good phrase. America is full of people who will instantly believe any story told against the U.S., and doubt anything that supports a U.S. position. Been that way long before 9/11.

The Taliban's Useful Idiot Brigade.