Changes

==Crisis in 2009==

==Crisis in 2009==

In Aug. 2009, General [[Stanley A. McChrystal]], the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, said the Karzai government was riddled with corruption and NATO was being undermined by tactics that alienate civilians. He called the Taliban insurgency "a muscular and sophisticated enemy" that uses modern propaganda and systematically reaches into Afghanistan's prisons to recruit members and even plan operations. McChrystal alerted Washington that he urgently needs more forces within the next year; without them, he warned, the eight-year conflict "will likely result in failure."<ref>Bob Woodward, "McChrystal: More Forces or 'Mission Failure'' [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/20/AR2009092002920.html ''Washington Post'' Sept 21, 2009]</ref>  

In Aug. 2009, General [[Stanley A. McChrystal]], the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, said the Karzai government was riddled with corruption and NATO was being undermined by tactics that alienate civilians. He called the Taliban insurgency "a muscular and sophisticated enemy" that uses modern propaganda and systematically reaches into Afghanistan's prisons to recruit members and even plan operations. McChrystal alerted Washington that he urgently needs more forces within the next year; without them, he warned, the eight-year conflict "will likely result in failure."<ref>Bob Woodward, "McChrystal: More Forces or 'Mission Failure'' [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/20/AR2009092002920.html ''Washington Post'' Sept 21, 2009]</ref>