by Thomas Keister

"Because there's one bombing, it doesn't mean the situation is going down the tubes." That remark belongs to NATO yeshole Major Mario Couture, speaking on the continued resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

No, maybe that doesn't mean the situation is going down the tubes, but it is hardly cause for optimism, especially given the shaky state of Southern Afghanistan. The Taliban has been gradually increasing their hold on Kandahar for years now, even with thousands of American and Canadian troops in and around the city.

While Gen. Sher Mohammad Zazai, the Afghan National Army's commander in Kandahar, said a counteroffensive is being planned, one had to question how effective it will be, as even NATO can not accurately measure the extent of Taliban control.

Yet, NATO and the Afghan National Army say this while struggling to keep a straight face, as August has now caught up with July as the deadliest months of the war thus far.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, has said the supply of militants is "effectively endless," and that the new strategy will be to make the safety of the villagers the top priority, rather than racking up enemy body counts.

I think by this point in the proceedings, eight years in, we've heard it all before, and this is nothing particularly surprising. The only part I think Americans are buying, and those are the Americans who make it to page A5 of the morning edition, is the phrase "effectively endless."