War in Afghanistan at critical stage

The war in Afghanistan has reached a critical stage, U.S. General David Petraeus said Sunday.
Wow that will come as a surprise to all the soldiers fighting out there! I'll bet they had never noticed things were a bit dodgy, indeed they have been for the best part of the last nine years. Most would argue that things will probably not get much better either, Afghanistan has never been successfully invaded in it's history, even Russia with it's massive resources failed to bring it under it's control, the people there are proud and have a long history of fighting for their freedom, time is also on their side, it doesn't matter if it takes them 50 years they will wear down their enemy and drive them out.
Then there's the question of whether British troops should be there in the first place. 9/11 was the reason given, even though 15 of the 19 hi-jackers were claimed to be from Saudi Arabia (we haven't invaded there) and Osama Bin Laden seems long gone (even the video tapes have dried up) My guess is he died some time ago.