...we'll have to wait and see if an additional 30-40,000 changes that perception of being "occupied."

As stated in one of your snippets, Afghanistan has been in turmoil for (at least) the last 30 years. How long do you propose United States forces stay there? 'Cause NATO has been looking for a way out for about 5 years - they were more than happy to hand the reins back over to this debacle. So, propose a number - 10, 20, 30 years? More?

Surveys are wonderful things - according to them, Barack Obama will never be elected President...oh. WAIT! Imagine yourself a farmer who is caught between the West by day and the Taliban by night. One day someone approaches you as you tend your poppies and they start asking questions about how secure you feel. Are you going to be honest and tell them you NEVER feel secure or are you going to try and give them the answer they want to hear? These numbers are "feel good" and if they make you feel better about the fact that we send drones in to drop bombs on people - oops! Sorry about that, innocent bystanders! We'll try to aim better next time! - then I'm happy for you. I wish I could so easily ignore what is happening, AGAIN, in our name. Before we invaded, the way Afghanistan is run and the government in power would have assured them a place at the top of our "Drug War" wanted list - yet, here we are supporting and enabling this corrupt regime. Karzai and his brother feel pretty damn secure, too. They have the entire American military as their backup. Meanwhile, the rape numbers continue to climb and the schools are blown up as fast as they are erected. Yes, the cost of freedom from an oppressive religion based government is harsh, especially on the most innocent.

"...Understandably, these positive features are not present in the eastern and southern areas along the Pakistan border..."

Really? Where the heaviest fighting is, the people don't feel secure, but the people who live on the other side of the country where there is very little fighting and the people in Kabul where there is a soldier for every citizen are snug as little bugs in rugs. Huh. Who could have guessed?

There is NO military solution. Let me repeat that, there is NO fucking military solution. Want to win the hearts and minds? Fill the bombs with food and things people can use instead of explosives. Use the money we are wasting on things that go boom and use it the way the people who live there want us to. Water, electricity, indoor plumbing, that sort of thing. That is something the Taliban CANNOT do.

One question I would have liked to see asked in that survey is: why have troop deployments always seemed to be concentrated along the proposed oil pipeline route? Strange coincidence that the fighting has always been heaviest there, huh?

If Obama wanted to send in 30,000 people who could actually help Afghanistan regain it's footing, I wouldn't mind. SeaBees, teachers, agri-specialists, diplomats to work out areas of dispute - That is what the country is in desperate need of - not more men with guns.

I'm glad that Cenk has finally come around. Took him long enough to see the folly. I've been trying to tell him for close to 6 years, now....