Fundamental lies exposed in splintering U.S.-Pakistan alliance
Commentary: Lara Logan is chief foreign correspondent for CBS News.
The U.S. relationship with Pakistan is unraveling.
This began when Osama bin Laden took a Navy SEAL bullet to his chest and then his head.
In that moment, the lie that has defined this relationship was exposed. And it became a matter of time before this relationship had to be redefined.
The unraveling is a slow and fascinating descent. The truth lies somewhere at the bottom of a very black pool thick with the blood of American soldiers.
Finally, when it is all exposed and there is no more pretense, we might be able to honor those who have died in Afghanistan. Until that point, their deaths are a stain on our national pride and everything that America is supposed to represent.
Because we sent our own into harm's way in Afghanistan, without telling them or the country that it was an impossible fight.
And it is not impossible because there is no way to defeat the enemy. It is impossible for two simple reasons. First, the enemy is inside Pakistan, not Afghanistan; Second, only one side is fighting a war -- and it's not us.
Somewhere along the way we stopped believing it was possible to defeat the Taliban and its allies because we found ourselves trapped in a war with no end, where we could not rely on our allies and all that blood and treasure seemed to be squandered for no reason.
The truth is it became impossible to defeat the Taliban because of a political decision - and agreement with Pakistan - not to target the enemy leadership and fighters once they crossed the Afghan border into Pakistan. Not because they are so powerful or popular or important to Afghanistan. But because they are protected by a supposed U.S. ally, Pakistan, who offered to help us defeat al Qaeda instead, and by a terrible U.S. political miscalculation, probably based in arrogance - and ignorance.
The truth is also that the U.S. and NATO stopped fighting a war in Afghanistan the moment Kabul fell and Osama bin Laden was able to escape Tora Bora and slip across the border to safety inside Pakistan. The U.S. stopped fighting a war and instead came up with another name - "counter-insurgency." That was just another politically-motivated excuse not to face reality or make the tough decisions that needed to be made.
There was no such self-deception on the other side. The Taliban and its allies were very clear on where they stood: They were at war, fighting to regain control of their country and defeat then U.S. anywhere and everywhere they could be reached.
While we pretended that building schools and roads was the answer and the path to peace and a better future for all in Afghanistan, our enemies were training and recruiting and perfecting their tactics and performance on the battlefield.
While we were lying to ourselves and calling this fight a counter-insurgency, the Taliban were rallying their supporters and troops with a call to arms, a fight to the death, a war with America.
When you can send 10 or 15 or even 30 suicide bombers into a battle with the U.S. or an attack on an American base -- as the Taliban have repeatedly -- those fighters are not poor men looking to make a quick buck.
Do not accept that there is no way to counter U.S. enemies like the Haqqani network, which has come to attention since the recent attack on the U.S. embassy in Kabul.
Cell phones link Pakistan to U.S. embassy attack
There is a way and it is very simple. The Haqqani network does not exist without the Haqqanis.
Your "partners" in the Pakistani military, your "allies" in the Pakistani security establishment know where they are on a daily, if not hourly basis.
There is no "Haqqani network" without the Haqqanis.
When you can rally dozens of troops to set off into the most unforgiving mountains in the middle of winter, to lay in wait in the freezing cold, without the comfort of a warm fire and hot food and lie in wait for an attack on a remote American outpost, just so you can have the greatest degree of surprise and chance of success, then you are not dealing with men who are frustrated with government corruption and are just looking to make some money.
You are in the midst of a serious, full-blown war and to have any chance of defeating your enemy, at the very least you have to recognize that you are not in a campaign-style battle for the support of the population. You are, in fact, in the midst of a full-blown all-out war that you cannot afford to lose.
You have not won. You are not yet safe. You have not sent a message to the world that you will not be attacked in the way America was attacked on 9/11. You have not convinced people across the globe that you are serious, that you will not tolerate any incursion or loss of life on your soil, no matter what. You have not said to the world in no uncertain terms that you will prevail no matter what.
Instead, you have lied to yourself. You have changed the name of "war" to counter-insurgency even when the very definition of the terms denies the simple facts - that the Taliban is not an "insurgent" group trying to overthrown a legitimate government. That they were the government when the U.S. got involved and they are now fighting a war to regain the power they lost to their enemies, because of the U.S. bombing campaign in 2001.
If this sounds like a call to arms, it is not.
It is simply a statement of truth. All it what it is. If you are not prepared to fight a war, do not send your troops to war.
If you are not prepared to kill your enemy where they stand, in Afghanistan or Pakistan, by whatever means possible, then do not lie to your troops and your nation and pretend you are at war.
Do not lie to the Afghan people and pretend you are there for them.
Get out. Go home.
And live with the consequences
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