Muhammedans, regardless whether they reside in Riyadh, Algiers or Timbuktu, heed the call for jihad and head to Iraq or Afghanistan to kill unbelievers. Their mandate is clear: the moment the ummah, the nation of believers, is being attacked, the believers must defend the Islamic nation. As long as they kill and die for Allah, the 72 virgins (don’t forget the 28 boyz) are a guaranteed reward.
Americans, or the allies if you will,  are on a mission to ‘win hearts and minds’ of Muhammedans, a bizarre, utopic undertaking that couldn’t be more absurd. While we built mosques and madrassas, dams and roads, in the hope that some ‘moderate’ Islam might come along that counters the teachings of the Koran and the hadith, the soldiers of Allah lie in wait to blow every thing to  bits. No wonder the West ‘is at a loss in Afghanistan’- Once again: you go to war to destroy the enemy, not to ‘win hearts and minds’.
More and more military and civilian leaders are voicing pessimism when it comes to the NATO mission in Afghanistan. As the fight continues, ideas for how to break through the ongoing stalemate are few. Some are beginning to think that victory — for either side — is impossible.
It is one of the last mild summer evenings in Kabul. A group of Western diplomats and military officials is meeting for a private dinner in one of the embassies in Wazir Akbar Khan, an upscale residential neighborhood. Almost all of the 12 envoys and generals represent countries that have troops stationed in southern Afghanistan and the mood is somber. “Nothing is moving forward anymore, and yet we are no longer able to extricate ourselves,” one of the ambassadors says over dessert, a light apple pastry. He gives voice to that which many here are already thinking: “We are trapped.”
By Susanne Koelbl/Spiegel Online
Continue reading SPIEGEL: The West Is at a Loss in Afghanistan