One Inspiring Article on Afghan Progress to Date

Afghan commandos' esprit de corps transcends tribe - Yahoo! News

This article is showing a great success story that you probably will not hear about in most main stream media news cycles.  But the fact is that the right people in Afghanistan are making a lot of progress.  Are there is alot of problems with Afghanistan?  Yes.  But are there alot of good things happening you don't hear about?  Definitely! 

These Afghan commandos are seeing what the United States is all about. 

"It is like the U.S. — nobody cares if I am Italian, Irish or Polish,"
said the captain. Military embed rules for Special Forces units do not
allow him to be identified by name. "The only thing that matters is the
quality of the soldier. It's the example of what we are trying to
accomplish here."

This is the larger challenge here.  The issue is building a nation, and at the heart of a nation is it's military.  The more professional, the more inspired to protect and serve the country you are fighting for is a crucial element to national success. 

Duplicating that achievement across the wider army may be more
difficult, because the commandos are the army's best recruits and
receive intensive training,
Munoz said. Still, they are proof that training can produce results,
and Munoz said "you win the war" if the U.S. can extend the results to
the rest of the army.

Really, all we Americans want is what this Afghan commando leader, Col Frarid says:

"We have problems in our society, but not in the commandos," said
Farid, who like many in Afghanistan uses only one name. "We can kill
many enemy, but most important for me as a leader is building identity.
I am seeing the benefits of that unity of identity."

This is simply awesome, this is the type of leadership and national pride that Americans have been trying to show the Afghans over the years that we would like them to have, so that they can build a nation and protect it from people like the Taliban.  A peaceful prosperous nation, that is the goal and we, as Americans would like nothing more than to help Afghans achieve that goal get achieved.  Yes, it is a long hard road to get there since Afghanistan is about 1000 years behind Iraq in terms of nation building.  But that can be accelerated with the US and NATO help we are giving them.  All the Afghans need is the 'want' and the 'drive' to achieve success, and we will help them get there as we are doing.  The commando unit in this article should be commended, not only for their bravery in fighting for their country, not just sectarian tribe, but also for their vision in seeing a country united under one flag and the possibilities that await them. 

Things are definitely moving in the right direction.  And for all those haters out there who think progress is measured in terms of attacks/bombing and killings?  This is war, that happens alot.  As long as there are people like Col. Frarid and his Afghan commandos, Afghanistan is definitly on the winning path.  It is only a matter of time and determination for the rest of the Afghan Army and civillians to come around and see the light that the commandos have already seen.