US report. "Afghan, U.S. troops kill 32 Taliban in clashes."

On-the-scene Afghanis and Karzai say: Afghan president orders probe into civilian deaths."

And another: "A local official accused the U.S.-coalition of killing and wounding 30 civilians in an airstrike on a wedding ceremony in the eastern province of Nangarhar on Sunday, Afghan media said."

Whatever else is said, this is the perception of the Afghans, and is probably more accurate than the intelligence which can be observed from the air. That which is needed to win a situation like this, the "hearts and minds" of the population has been consistently ignored for the almost 7 years of the conflict. And lost.

The result is Afghans will fight the US and NATO as long as they are incountry.

Sad. Because a different strategy could have won it. The British couldn't and the Russians couldn't. Same tactics, by the way.

Arf