Leon Panetta arrived in Afghanistan today to attempt to craft a narrative of a measured response to the atrocity that unfolded when a US Army staff sergeant executed 16 Afghan civilians, mostly children. The soldier was immediately taken into custody by US forces and he is currently being evaluated to determine his mental health. Already, reports have surfaced that he likely suffered from effects related to a traumatic brain injury. Panetta has been careful to quell the rising calls for an immediate withdraw from Afghanistan.
"It is important that all of us - the United States, Afghanistan, the ISAF forces - all stick to the strategy that we've laid out," Panetta told reporters on the flight to Afghanistan. "All those involved need to 'bring this war to a responsible end and achieve the mission that all of us are embarked on."
And while that message is certainly consistent with what the Obama Administration and the President have stated in the days following the massacre, the incident has served to underscore global distaste for the mission. Coming quickly on the heels of an allegedly accidental Koran-burning incident, the killing spree has only served to stoke anti-American sentiment among Afghan civilians, which was already strong to begin with.
With a withdrawal timeline already established for US forces, it's highly unlikely that anything is going to change on that front. The challenge from now until the last US troops leave Afghanistan is going to be to try to create positive media coverage of anything that can be spun as "progress" or "success" on the ground. And even though a sprinkling of such stories is sure to emerge for political reasons, they will do little to change the overwhelming opinion of the American public and the global community that the vast majority of our efforts in Afghanistan were misguided failures.
By Buzzle Staff and Agencies
Published: 3/14/2012
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