Pakistani President Zardari says America losing Afghan war because America failed to win the heart of Afghans, US President Obama disagrees
Kiran Chaube
Aug. 4, 2010

Who will be proved correct? Zardari or Obama? Will America follow Soviets in its own destiny? Will Afghanistan become the impossible for Americans?

“The international community, of which Pakistan is a part, is losing the war against the Taliban because we have lost the battle for hearts and minds,” Mr. Zardari has told media reporters.

“Military reinforcements are only a small part of the response. To win the support of the Afghan population, you must bring economic development and prove you can not only change their lives, but improve them,” he had said.

Obama Administration disagrees. The White House has said that the United States President Barack Obama disagrees with the remarks of his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari that the United States-led coalition forces is losing the war against terror in Afghanistan. But reality in the streets of Peshawar raises the question mark that needs to be answered with prudence not just a obvious arrogance or obstinacy.

“The Afghan people know of the brutality of Taliban, just as the Pakistani people on the actions that their extremist counterparts were taking in Pakistan last year, to move on the capital of Pakistan is why the country of Pakistan started to take more direct action against safe havens,” Mr. Gibbs said.

“So I think that the hearts and minds of those in Afghanistan and Pakistan are obviously a key part of our strategy, as well as the hearts and the minds of the extremists that seek to do Afghans or Pakistanis harm,” he said.

“Well, I don’t think the (US) President would agree with President Zardari’s conclusion that the war is lost. I haven’t seen the interview. I don’t know why he’s come to that conclusion,” White House spokesman, Robert Gibbs said to the media reporters.

Both Zardari and Obama will run for reelection. The leaked Pentagon reports point a bleak picture for the American war on terror in Afghanistan. The question is bigger than just winning the heart and soul of the people of Afghanistan. No Western nation can really win the heart and soul of Afghans or Pakistanis. But Soviets did stay in Poland and other Eastern European nations for a very long time without winning the hearts and souls of Polish people. The problem is the fact that the net resultant end of the Soviet regimes in those countries were catastrophic. Is America headed that way? Will America drag Europeans, and Indians along with them in this adventure of "winning and staying in Afghanistan?"

Only time will tell. Miracles happen. America and the international community must win the war on Taliban. The million dollar question: Is this the right way to win a war? Is it really possible to win a war with just military strength?

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