By Athena Kobayashi

When Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced the appointment of General Stanley A. McChrystal as the top US commander in Afghanistan in order to get 'fresh thinking, fresh eyes' on the problem that still seemed without a solution after eight years of war and countless casualties, many believed that the former Green Beret would be the man to turn the situation around.

Gen. McChrystal assumed command by stressing the importance of protecting the civilian population by going after “significant leaders" and saying, “The measure of effectiveness will not be (the number of) enemy killed, it will be the number of Afghans shielded from violence."

"The Afghan people are at the center of our mission. In reality, they are the mission. We must protect them from violence, whatever its nature," Gen. McChrystal said. "But while operating with care, we will not be timid."

However, he was soon forced to forgo his ambitious war plans and come to grips with reality.

The situation in Afghanistan, which had begun a rapid decline since US President Barack Obama took office in January 2009, went into full-gear deterioration after the three-star Army Lieutenant took the reigns of command from his predecessor General David McKiernan.

Afghanistan has now reached a point where despite the presence of more than 100,000 foreign troops, it has been witnessing the highest level of insurgency since its 2001 US-led invasion.

In spite of McChrystal's promises, a recently-released UN report revealed that since the start of the year about 1,500 Afghan civilians have lost their lives, with August being the deadliest month of the year, due to military operations gone wrong or widely-reported instances of deliberate violence against civilians.

And while 250 American soldiers have been returned home in body bags since the beginning of 2009, as the direct result of the wrongful policies adopted by US officials, General McChrystal now holds the opinion that the US-led mission will "likely result in failure" unless a substantial number of troops are deployed across Afghanistan.

Just today, news broke about 14 more US casualties in Afghanistan in what was viewed as one of the heaviest one-day losses on the US military. Eleven American soldiers and three civilian contractors were killed in two crashes involving three helicopters.

According to NATO forces and US officials, two of the helicopters collided in midair in southern Afghanistan and the third went down in the west during an operation by Afghan and international forces in which a number of militants were killed as well.

McChrystal now appears to be in a bit of a fix, as he has not been able to deliver on any of his promises to lower the number of civilian casualties and his request for additional troops, which the Obama administration is still reportedly reviewing, may not meet a favorable response given the military mishaps occurring one after the other.

Today's incident is not the top US commander's only problem in Afghanistan. November 7, 2009 — the date approved by Afghan President Hamid Karzai to hold a runoff presidential election — and the heavy responsibility of providing security may well present a greater challenge for Gen. McChrystal in his quest to shield Afghan civilians from violence and prevent further body bags from being sent home.

At home, Americans demand an end to the war, as it is evident that more troop deployment is only making matters worse by fueling insurgency.

The US does not seem to have learned a lesson from the mistakes made by the Soviets in Afghanistan and is hell-bent on following the same path to humiliating defeat.

In the words of outspoken US congressman Ron Paul, “If the Soviets bankrupted themselves in Afghanistan with troop levels of 100,000 and were eventually forced to leave in humiliating defeat, why are we determined to follow their example?”

“At this point … we have nothing left to win. We are only there to save face, and in the end we will not even be able to do that.”

Perhaps it is time for the White House to begin listening to the repeated calls for ending a no-win battle in a far-away country and bring the troops back home before it is too late to even save face.