The NATO mission in Afghanistan just sustained another giant kick in the groin. The head of the NATO mission has just announced the immediate cessation of joint Afghan/NATO patrols. To date, these joint patrons have been the norm and represented the cornerstone in the UN plan to train indigenous police and military forces to assume security duties from UN troops.

Why are these patrols being discontinued? Mostly, it’s because in the past year 51 UN troops have died in so called “Green on Blue” attacks. That’s the term they roll out when “rogue” elements of the Afghan police/military kill their UN trainers. This is probably the single greatest tacit admission yet that the Afghan mission is a total bust.

So how can they fix this problem? They can’t. This is the sad truth. The NATO commander is doing the only thing possible. Refusing to put NATO troops into unnecessary danger. The mission is ending shortly, so why risk lives for no gains? Keep the troops as safe as possible and let them ride out the end of the deployment with absolute minimum exposure possible.

There have been enough deaths to assuage the U.S. rage over 9/11. NATO may feel honor-bound to stick it out to the very end of their commitment, but that’s no reason to sacrifice more troops in this un-winnable debacle. Afghanistan isn’t changing any time soon. There are some parts of the society who long for change. Unfortunately those who want to maintain the status quo are much more aggressive about it. Contrary to all the propaganda that came out later, Afghanistan only got invaded because the Taliban refused to turn over Osama bin Laden. Saving the Afghan people from the Taliban only became a mission when Osama proved harder to locate than a socially conscious Republican.

They never set out to save Afghanistan. That was the worst sort of mission creep. With the impending drawdown of NATO involvement in the Afghan theater, it’s small wonder the indigenous troops are increasingly susceptible to Taliban recruitment. It’s one thing to have joined up to fight side by side with the invaders. It’s a whole other deal if you can show that you just wanted to get close enough to kill them.

Refusing to let the locals build credit with the incoming regime by killing NATO troops is probably the first smart decision made since the invasion. Now let’s make another one and get the hell out before anymore troops die for nothing.

Bring them all home alive.

Cheers, Winston