Righteous war

The number of deaths and injuries of US and British allied forces from fighting in Afghanistan is increasing, almost every day there are reports of soldiers shot dead in ambushes and on patrols. This only proves that the Taliban enemy is out there and getting stronger.
The main justification for continuing and extending this war is that if the Taliban are getting stronger and are fighting back, it is crucial that the Western forces prevent them from again taking over the country and establishing a Taliban regime. If they were able to do this then, the thinking goes, we would be fighting them in the US and Britain, rather than in Afghanistan. So the continued war in Afghanistan is essentially a defensive war to deny the Taliban and al Qaeda a sovereign refuge from where they could continue and expand their war against the West.
Pres. Obama, when he was running for President, proclaimed the anti-Bush policy, that Iraq was the "wrong" war, that the US should not be in Iraq, but instead should be fighting more strongly to defeat the al Qaeda forces in Afghanistan, because it was they that had attacked us and they were our enemy. In a way, luckily for him, the "troop surge" in Iraq managed to defeat the bulk of the insurgency in Iraq by the time that he took office and recently it was possible for the US and Iraq to agree on a deal that all US forces have been withdrawn from all towns and cities in Iraq to pre-selected bases, where they are sitting in readiness if they are needed.
Now that Iraq is more or less quiescent, the focus shifts back to Afghanistan, which according to Obama is the "right" or "righteous" war. Soon there will be elections again in Afghanistan, and it will be important to see if the Western forces can guarantee those elections and keep Afghanistan on a democratic path, just as they did in Iraq.
But, the main problem in Afghanistan, and why the Taliban are resurgent, is that there is essentially no Government control in northern Pakistan. That is where the Taliban are recruiting and training their cadres for the fighting in Afghanistan. It is also well known that training schools for suicide bombers as young as 10-12 are active there and that such children are now being sold (average price $100) to various insurgent groups in Pakistan and Afghanistan to target Pakistani and Afghani targets. This partly accounts for the resurgence of explosions in Pakistan and Afghanistan, such as the markets that were bombed in Kabul and Peshawar a few days ago killing many people.
In response, the Pakistani army were let loose on the Swat Vally in the center of the northern area of Pakistan, that had essentially become an Islamist stronghold. After Pres. Zadari had agreed to allow them to establish sharia law there, he and the West were alarmed when they moved their forces to within 100 miles of Islamabad, where the Pakistani A-bombs are located. In finally fighting back, the Pakistan army, although they caused ca. 1 million refugees from the Swat Valley, have seemingly defeated the Islamist forces there, and hopefully have reestablished Governent control over that area. The refugees are now returning.
But, there are many such areas of Islamist control in northern Pakistan and the war in Afghanistan cannot be won without a similar extensive war in Pakistan. Although the Pakistan Government has shown its ability and willingness to tackle these forces in Swat, whether or not they can do so throughout the whole of the north where the Taliban enclaves are situated is questionable. But, the Pakistan Government will not allow Western forces to enter their territory, so whether or not they are up to this task is questionable.
What is clear is that Obama, as a good liberal, must continue to sell this war to the people of the US as a just and righteous war for the US to be in.