Taliban are Emboldened in Afghanistan

You constantly hear the propaganda from the White House about how even talking about leaving Iraq will embolden the enemy. The truth is that our weakened position related to a overstretched military and having a lousy commander and chief has done more to encourage the jihadists than any talk of leaving:

More than 1,000 villagers have fled a southern Afghan town as Taliban fighters dig in to repel NATO efforts to drive them out, residents and officials said on Wednesday.

Helmand provincial governor Haji Assadullah Wafa told Reuters by phone a military operation would soon be launched to recapture Musa Qala, which the Taliban over-ran last week.

The fact that we have not defeated the Taliban or the insurgency in the last 3 years is emboldening them. And the fact that they are killing more Americans emboldens the enemy:

More American troops were killed in combat in Iraq over the past four months — at least 334 through Jan. 31 — than in any comparable stretch since the war began, according to an Associated Press analysis of casualty records.

Not since the bloody battle for Fallujah in 2004 has the death toll spiked so high.