World | Afghanistan Afghans Cool to US Troop Increase Doubting Taliban can be defeated, they want foreigners out By Caroline Miller Posted Nov 7, 2009 7:34 AM CST Copied US soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division patrol through a village in the Pech Valley, Afghanistan, Friday, Nov. 6, 2009. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder) Even as the Obama adminstration agonizes over deploying more troops to Afghanistan, the Afghan public is growing increasingly negative about the US presence in their country. Doubting that the Taliban can be defeated, most agree that the government should negotiate with insurgents, the New York Times reports, and they see Americans as occupiers who have accomplished little. “What have the Americans done in eight years?” a pharmacists asks the Times. “Americans are saying that with their planes they can see an egg 18 kilometers away, so why can’t they see the Taliban?” The lack of US success against insurgents has bred rampant conspiracy theories about US wanting to prolong the fight. “In the first days of the war, the Americans defeated the Taliban in just a few days,” says a student. “Now they have more than 60,000 forces and they cannot defeat them.” Read These Next Murdered couple died "protecting their little girls." One wrong step costs teen at Yellowstone. Trump may have a Joe Rogan problem. Manhattan shooter apparently took the wrong elevator. Report an error