The President of Afghanistan has stated what ought to be obvious to any thinking person.

Yahoo news via AP

Afghan leader criticizes US withdrawal timeline (AP)

KABUL, Afghanistan – President Hamid Karzai said that U.S. plans to start withdrawing troops from Afghanistan next year had boosted the Taliban's spirits, while an insurgent attack killed eight Afghan police in the country's increasingly volatile north Thursday.

Speaking to a visiting U.S. congressional delegation, President Hamid Karzai said the July withdrawal date had provided "morale value" to the insurgency, the presidential office said.....

There was a day when the military term "Unconditional Surrender" was a viable description for the ending of military operations.

It is a concept that should be resurrected... not only in our foreign policy discussions... but also in our military engagements.

We need to be done with the idea of simple retaliatory reactions... with the lame idea of "teaching terrorists a lesson"... and return to the time honored tradition of military exceptionalism.

Defeat the enemy that would strike us... until they publicly acknowledge that they have been and are defeated. Terrorists need to hear the unequivocal, "Lay down your arms."

xtnyoda, shalomed