Joel Wing compares Iraq to Afghanistan:
Events in Afghanistan receive far more press coverage than Iraq these days. That’s largely because there are American and European forces in the former, while none in the latter. The fighting in Afghanistan also seems more intractable and open ended than in Iraq. What the statistics reveal is a far more determined and adaptable group of insurgents in Iraq than in Afghanistan.
Despite the increase in operations, the bases in neighboring Pakistan, and the support of parts of the government there, the Afghan insurgents have proven to be less deadly over the last five years. The exact opposite has been happening in Iraq. There, the militants have become more and more efficient. They have adapted to the loss of much of their popular support and the end of the sectarian war, and honed their skills. That all shows their resiliency when many believed they would be in decline by now. It also highlights the deadlock in security that Iraq is currently facing where the insurgents cannot challenge the government, but it cannot eliminate the militants.
(Photo: An Iraqi man shifts through the rubble of a destroyed house following a series of bomb attacks in the town of Taji, north of Baghdad which killed at least 42 people and wounded 40, on July 23, 2012. A wave of attacks in Baghdad and north of the capital killed 91 people in Iraq's deadliest day in more than two years after Al-Qaeda warned it would mount new attacks and sought to retake territory. By Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images)
The Dish 
