Radio Netherlands reports (link via The Corner) some pretty good news in Afghanistan, complete with hidden bonuses of related news elsewhere in the War on Terror:
The International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan says the Taliban is in control of no more than five of the country’s 59 districts. The statement comes during the surprise visit of US Defence Secretary Robert Gates to Afghanistan.
ISAF spokesman Carlos Branco says the Taliban has failed as a resistance movement. However, the Portuguese general admits that an increasing number of fighters from the terrorist network al-Qaeda are entering the country from Iraq where they are suffering defeats.
The many-fold implications of this report are just delicious for those of us who have been banging our heads against the brick walls of the Democratic left’s arguments against the War on Terror.
First off, we have yet more evidence that our enemy in Iraq is our enemy in Afghanistan. It wasn’t one we created by taking down Saddam Hussein, and it’s not one that will go away the moment we leave. This is an international terrorist network that will fight us wherever they think they can win.
Secondly, the fact that they’re flowing from Iraq to Afghanistan shows that they’re starting to have doubts about their ability to win in Iraq. The surge is working, or rather, the new strategy that General Petraeus has put into place, which has been aided by the surge, is pacifying the country.
Third, if enemy troops are moving from Iraq to Afghanistan, what country are they moving through? Let’s look at a map for some possibilities:
Well what do you know, there’s really only one country that Al Qaeda forces could travel through in order to get from Iraq to Afghanistan. Unless they go a long way around first through Turkey (a NATO ally) and numerous former Soviet countries, the only way to get from here to there is through Iran. Which means Iran is allowing this to happen. Which means Iran is our enemy, too, and not just a misunderstood friend of socialist democracy like former President Clinton and many others have portrayed that country’s regime to be.
Fourth, we’re also still winning in Afghanistan. The Taleban only has a small part of the country. The allies have the vast majority of it. This seems to run counter to Democratic charges that our fight in Iraq has distracted us from our fight in Afghanistan.
No, we’re winning all around. President Bush and his policies are taking us down the path we need to be on for an eventual victory in this War on Terror worldwide, if only we have the determination to carry it out.