According to John McCain, the U.S. is succeeding "on the ground" in Afghanistan.
But reading the international section of the newspapers over the past week, one doesn't get that sense — for example, when Afghan leader Hamid Karzai calls the Americans in his country "demons."
The U.S. has refocused on its mission in Afghanistan over the past week after Staff Sgt. Robert Bales gunned down 16 innocent Afghan villagers. It was Bales' fourth tour of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past decade. The civilian shootings prompted Karzai to demand that NATO troops leave Afghan villages and turn over security to Afghanistan forces ahead of their 2014 departure date.
McCain and Mitt Romney took to the airwaves on Sunday morning to blast President Obama for the current quagmire in Afghanistan, collectively saying he hasn't shown sufficient leadership or engagement.
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Romney essentially blamed all the troubles in Afghanistan on Obama, saying if he were president he'd be calling Hamid Karzai every day, as if that would solve all the problems with our very awkward relationship with the Afghan leader. When asked by Fox News Sunday's Bret Baier what his plan was, he didn't offer one, instead saying he'd defer to the military for advice.
This article appears in Mar 15-21, 2012.