A Massacre In Afghanistan: Is This The End?

There is much we do not know about what happened today in Panjwai when one US soldier walked out of his base and went on to kill at least sixteen civilians, including several children. But if the least of what happened is what we now hear, after the Koran burnings, I cannot see a future for US forces in that country. The pressure to quit before 2014 will grow.

It would be lovely to believe that we can do more than wipe out al Qaeda in Afghanistan, that we can somehow tame the Taliban, or get the current government to be less than corrupt two-faced, or make Pakistan less ambivalent about our success. But our cultures are far too far apart to mesh; and the more we insist on succeeding with an unwinnable transition, the deeper into the mire we go.

Maybe the soldier snapped. But one has a sinking feeling that this is the kind of flashpoint that sets the landscape aflame. Please pray for those families affected, and the souls of those just killed.