Gary Brecher for AlterNet says: "After six years of ignoring Afghanistan, things have gotten bad enough to force American officials to pay attention. For the past two months, US casualties in Afghanistan have been higher than in Iraq. And on July 13, Afghanistan definitely got everybody's attention when nine US troops were killed in what Wikipedia is now officially calling 'The Battle of Wanat.' Three days after the battle, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), the US-dominated military force running the country, announced it's abandoning Wanat completely."
http://www.truthout.org/article/the-taliban-strikes-back