Why do Pakistanis and Afghans support the Taliban and not the US? After all, the US paints the Taliban as brutal, ruthless, mean and cruel. Seemingly no one would choose such bastards over the benevolent, hospital and school building, democracy supporting United States of America. And yet they do.

Can it be that the Taliban is seen as local folks, sensitive to the local culture and society? That the US is a foreign invader with it's own agenda?

Can it be that the US is seen as more brutal, ruthless, mean and cruel? After all, between Bagram and Predators there is a PR gold and diamond mine for the Taliban.

Is it that the hospitals and schools don't reach into the countryside and communities, are more for US domestic propaganda purposes than to take care of local people? I haven't seen anything saying that the life expectancy is going up since the invasion. Afghanistan is more than little bit of Kabul and a small part of Kandahar.

This is a serious question and I don't know all of the answer. I do know that to win one must either have boots on the ground everywhere or win hearts and minds. And in order to win hearts and minds one must understand those hearts and minds and make life better for those hearts and minds.

Americans are filled with the idea that John Wayne throwing a candy bar to a starving kid wins a friend forever. There are some Americans who believe third-world people get used to having friends and relatives killed. That attitude, that locals are animals more than humans, is way too prevalent and a bit resented.

The reality is that they DO want it more than the US does. It's their country, religion, society and their families and friends. We will not prevail by force alone. Which doesn't stop us from trying, unfortunately.

Arf