While the public is distracted by the scapegoating of banking executives in congressional hearings, there are some serious issues being decided, not the least of which is the war in Afghanistan. Don’t look now, but we’re losing!

This week, or next fortnight at the latest, the president must decide on whether to deploy tens of thousands of American troopers, Army and Marines, to fight against a largely indigenous enemy whose unflagging opposition to any and all foreign domination is a historic fact. From the Mongol hordes to Alexander’s Macedonians and the British empire nobody has managed to rule above the Hindu Kush, including Soviet Union whose battle tech and weaponry availed them nothing against U.S. backed tribal militias. When the dust of battle clears, the Afghans are still there, waiting patiently for the invaders to make one small mistake that costs lives, week after week.

Our Pentagon is gradually coming around to accepting the idea that military victory is impossible, and even securing the Kabul government may be too difficult if Karzai and company don’t make some deals with the Taliban and the opium warlords outside the capital. A definite improvement in outlook by our military, but one that fails to recognize the tactical desperation of our situation.

At this time, the land supply link between Pakistan and our NATO forces in the battle torn provinces in eastern Afghanistan. First the Pathan tribal leaders refused to let their man drive the convoys of U.S. military supplies up through the Khyber Pass. When our Army brought in contract drivers the Taliban local blew a key bridge leading to the tunnel, effectively closing the route until spring.

At the same time, the Kyrgistani government decided they wanted lots more bucks for our airbase in that benighted former Soviet Republic, cutting off our air logistical support and forcing the re-routing of our supply lines through Russia, a fragile link in our war effort.

Meanwhile, the brother of president Karzai turns out to be one of the top drug kingpins in the country’s heroin trade, and the corruption and profiteering in Kabul are reaching embarrassing levels. Observers claim the national police are crooked beyond belief, taking bribes for even the smallest services and tipping off the insurgents of any planned raids. The Army is not much better, being thoroughly infiltrated by Taliban sympathizers.

Obama’s decision is whether to prosecute the war with an eye to restoring government control over territories currently dominated by the rebels or back off and accept Taliban rule in most of the nation’s outback. The choice is crucial, not only to our foreign relations but to our national course in the next decade. We can continue our warmongering ways while marching deeper into the quagmire of an un-winnable war or we can avoid the whole miserable tragedy by stepping back and making friends of the homegrown patriots we now plan to kill.