Pakistan Flips Off US on Copter: Losers Can't Be Choosers

[bemildred]

It is no surprise at all that Pakistan's intelligence services would show Chinese military staff the wrecked "stealth helicopter" in Osama bin Laden's Abbottabad compound.

"Losers can't be choosers," former Pakistan ISI Chief Hamid Gul told a packed audience at last year's Al Jazeera Forum in Doha.

Gul was sharing his impression that America had essentially lost the battle with the Taliban in Afghanistan -- but that the Taliban would be 'honorable', in his words, and would allow America a graceful but loser's exit out of the country.

Bravado or not, Gul's perspective is shared by many in Afghanistan and Pakistan. A "stalemate", the current messy equilibrium between the Taliban and ISAF forces in Afghanistan, translates to those on the ground here as American failure.

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/08/pakistan-flips-off-us-on-copter-losers-cant-be-choosers/243622/