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American-led Afghanistan War Now Longer than Soviet Version

The American-led war in Afghanistan has now surpassed the length of the Soviet Union’s version in the 1980s. The comparison is being made more frequently since NATO revealed its intent to end its operations there by 2014. A Pentagon report issued last week admitted success is “uneven” at best, and some international observers see little hope of the NATO troops vanquishing Taliban forces. President Hamid Karzai’s government is seen as incapable of surviving without the presence of the foreign coalition, but that is not preventing an escalation of tensions between the Afghan president and his American patrons. When the Soviets left Afghanistan, a civil war ensued. This time, though, the Taliban are a formidable force that is not expected to encounter resistance in securing its hold.