THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

That is how long we have been fighting in Shitholeistan. So far, with what the Pentagon like to call the greatest military in the world, we have accomplished jack shit beyond making a lot of dead bodies. From initially seeking to destroy the Taliban we have settled into training our favorite group in Kabul.And the results so far?

Taliban insurgents abandoned their effort to take over the capital of the western Afghan province of Farah, leaving the city early Wednesday without apparent opposition, local residents said.

Even with 25 members of the security forces and five civilians killed, officials immediately hailed the insurgents’ departure as a victory. They said that hundreds of insurgents had been killed in the one-day assault on Farah city and that the government’s response proved it could beat back any Taliban initiative to take and hold territory.

But for many Afghans, especially residents in battered Farah, the assault showed mostly that the insurgents could attack at will even against a well-entrenched government position backed up by both Afghan and American air power.

“The Taliban managed to leave the city without a single shot being fired, and the night was calm,” said Abdullah Khan, a resident reached by telephone. “It shows the utmost incompetence of our forces. The Taliban were wandering the Farah city streets openly without fear as if they had lived there a long time, making jokes with their friends and telling citizens to stay calm and not worry.”

A team of American Army Special Forces commandos, accompanied by armed drones and A-10 ground attack jets, was dispatched to Farah to help Afghan forces push back the Taliban, according to United States military officials.

The decision to send the Green Beret soldiers into an area that is usually overseen by the Italian military echoes a similar tactic in October 2015 after the Taliban took control of the city of Kunduz. Then, the team of roughly 12 soldiers fought alongside their Afghan counterparts and helped call in airstrikes. The Green Berets were later found partly responsible for the Oct. 3, 2015, bombing of a Doctors Without Borders hospital, which killed at least 30 people.

The governor of Farah Province, Basir Salangi, vowed revenge for the assault. “Security forces will follow the enemy in the districts as well, and military operations will continue until the Taliban are defeated in the province,” he said. “The Taliban will pay the price for attacking Farah.”

But across the country, the insurgents were claiming more territory on Wednesday. The Taliban said that two more areas had fallen to their fighters: Jaghatu district in Ghazni Province in the country’s southeast, and Dara-e Bom in Badghis Province in the northwest, according to a WhatsApp statement from the Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid.

In Badghis Province, Faiz Mohammad, the deputy governor, denied the Taliban assertion on Dara-e Bom. “This area is in government control, and the claims in this regard are untrue,” he said. Officials in Ghazni Province could not immediately be reached.

But Mirza Ali, the departing governor of Qades district, which includes Dara-e Bom, confirmed that government forces abandoned their defense of Dara-e Bom against the Taliban late Tuesday night.

He said that there had been 360 soldiers and police guarding the strategic area but that all had fled without offering resistance, allowing the insurgents to take control.

Running away without a fight. If that is the best we can do we need to be packing up and telling the Taliban don't bother us, we will be gone by X date and stick to it. We certainly aren't doing any good propping up a bunch of losers.