Taliban pretty excited about McChrystal's departure

Of course, no one is more mesmerized than the Taliban themselves, who, if they don’t have access to television, followed the drama and the minute-by-minute coverage of McChrystal’s Pentagon and White House meetings on the Pashto-language services of the BBC and VOA. “We are enjoying every minute of it on TV and the radio,” says a senior Afghan Taliban official and former cabinet minister in Mullah Mohammed Omar’s defunct government, who spoke on the condition that he not be quoted by name. “All the talk about this being America’s longest, most expensive, and most unpopular war—and about the tension between McChrystal and Obama—is music to our ears.” The Taliban official, who spoke with NEWSWEEK along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and even naively asked about the possibility of a military coup in Washington, sees the apparent insubordination (and the backbiting) in the U.S. ranks as the latest sign of America’s impending defeat in Afghanistan. “What we are seeing is the mindset of a U.S. general and other commanders who are getting mentally ready for failure, so they criticize and make jokes about the president.”