KABUL, Afghanistan - The Taliban have long exaggerated their military successes, but their recent claim that they killed more than 5,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan last year may be the militia's most startling yet.
It sounds laughable but it's not. That claim isn't aimed at people here in the west. It's aimed at Urdu and Pashtun Afghans and Pakistani tribesmen who don't have the same access to information that we do, and don't have the capacity to view such claims critically.
If it was commonly understood that the Taliban losses are so one-sided in their battles with coalition forces, it would make the Taliban look weak. And nobody wants to appear weak in that part of the world. Image is half the war.
they've been lying to us
If it was commonly understood that the Taliban losses are so one-sided in their battles with coalition forces, it would make the Taliban look weak. And nobody wants to appear weak in that part of the world. Image is half the war.
Whoever they have counting for them should be fired immediately.