The Toll - "We'll know when we see it."

For those who have been anxious to learn what circumstances would constitute a victory in the Afghan campaign, an answer of sorts is at hand.

When asked, on Wednesday, how the administration would define success in the war, special envoy Richard C. Holbrooke paraphrased Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart’s assessment of pornography with the answer shown in the above title. He also said he preferred the word “success’ when discussing the objectives rather than the word “win.”

The U.S. force in Afghanistan is expected to reach 68,000 by the end of the year, up by 21,000 under President Obama. Casualties are also up. July was the bloodiest month in the nearly-eight-year campaign.

Last week, the Department of Defense released the obituaries of 10 American troops killed in that country, ranging in age from 20 to 40. Half of the deaths occurred in Helmand province, along the Pakistani border. Total U.S. deaths in Afghanistan now total 782, according to the independent website icasualties.org.

The Pentagon has announced on several occasions that its military campaign in Afghanistan is accompanied by an increasingly important public relations effort attempting to win over the support of the public. Of particular significance has been an attempt to woo the tribal warlords away from Taliban. The warlords oversee a mammoth drug-producing economy that accounts for much of the world’s opium and heroin. The United Nations is expected to release a report soon showing that the Taliban receives about $125 million annually from the proceeds of the drug trade.

The Pentagon’s public relations campaign has suffered somewhat from unintended civilian casualties caused by U.S. raids. Also, despite the political change in Washington, the private contractor firm, Blackwater, is still in the picture, although under a different name, and it is again embroiled in controversy.

The incident in question involved the killing of two unarmed civilians, ages 22 and 24, by four employees of the contractor, which now goes by the name Xe. The shootings were said to have been unprovoked and the shooters were not authorized to have been carrying weapons at the time, according to a U.S. military spokesman.

The four contractors would have been subject to Afghan law but they were taken out of the country before a case could be established. The situation has resulted in bitterness against the U.S., particularly in the Kabul area where it took place.

A general election is to be held on Thursday and President Hamid Karzai is expected to retain his leadership role, although there may have to be a runoff contest if he doesn’t get more than 50% of the vote against his 40 current adversaries. In the meantime, the Taliban is doing all it can to destabilize the situation and disrupt the process. It claims it will cut off the fingers of those who vote and it launched a brazen car bomb attack on Saturday morning at the front gate of the main western military base in Kabul.

Meanwhile, in Iraq, the removal of most U.S. troops from the cities’ streets at the end of June, has resulted in a sharp drop in casualties. Last week the Department of Defense released the obituary of one 41-year-old soldier in that country whose death was categorized as being non-combat-related. Total U.S. deaths in Iraq now stand at 4,331, according to icasualties.org.