1,821 Dead, 14,733 Wounded

Mullah Omar posted on the Taliban website this weekend that the impending U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan is proof of our defeat:

For ten years now, our courageous Mujahideen have been engaging in Jihad against a cruel and incursive enemy for a noble cause and are presenting countless sacrifices in this path everyday. They have pushed the most materially advanced and arrogant power of the world to the verge of collapse with Allah’s Divine Help. Thousands of their troops have been killed and maimed while others face permanent disabilities and mental disorders, compelling their people to rise up in opposition and take to the streets. The American and Western people have no further taste for extending the Afghan war and seeing their soldiers return in coffins!!  It is only the Bounty and Grace of Allah Almighty that He chose us for the service of our country and Islam in this crucial and sensitive period and suppressed the greatest enemy of Islam with our hands. 

Mujahid Brothers! You know very well that our enemy is facing an unambiguous defeat. The ongoing Badre military operation tasked for the current year has quelled all of their conspiracies and designs. The enemy has suffered immense human and material losses in all parts of the country, including in the capital Kabul. In view of these prevailing sensitive conditions, all in authority and subjects should consolidate their unity because the enemy is now attempting to divide their ranks under various names. It is trying to attribute the perplexing and glorious operations, military advancements and achievements of Islamic Emirate to foreigners so to hide their shameful defeat and create artificial rationales for permanent presence in Afghanistan by falsely indicting the neighboring countries. But the enemy must realize that their purchased Jirgas and permanent bases have and will be strongly opposed by us and will on no account be permitted to materialize.

This is what the brilliant diplomacy of the current Administration has brought us.  It's no wonder that Hamid Karzai is sucking up to Iran and Pakistan.  All of the lives lost will have been for naught as the Taliban prepares to roll back into Afghanistan after we leave to fulfill a political campaign promise.

The lesson being taught to the world once again is that when you are in conflict with the United States, all you have to do is wait until the Democrat Party gains power in Washington.  Sadly, the party of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Harry Truman demonstrates once again that since the 1960s the concept of victory in war is anathema to them--and that should permanently disqualify them from leading our nation.

Hat tip:  Ahmad Majidyar at National Review Online