Coakley: Let's Leave Afghanistan, "Focus on Where Al Qaeda Is"

It was pointed out last week that Martha Coakley made the strange declaration that terrorists in Afghanistan are "gone," to Pakistan or Yemen. Her reason for this was to say that we should "focus" on places other than Afghanistan.

The Taliban today made Coakley look like a fool.

Taliban militants on Monday launched one of their fiercest assaults on Kabul, the Afghan capital, since their government was ousted from power in 2001 after the September 11 terror attacks on the US.

At least five gunmen were killed after running gun battles in the streets of central Kabul and a series of suicide bomb attacks near banks and several government ministries. A four-hour exchange of fire culminated in a siege at a shopping complex where the gunmen had holed up as plumes of acrid smoke rose above the city.

The Taliban have not given up this fight, and if we redirect our efforts away from Afghanistan, the gains that we have made will be lost. Terrorists are not gone from Afghanistan. They are still there, and in force, and just one flinch in our focus would be a very dangerous thing.