History has it that whenever the forces of nature decide to punish any individual or nation for his or its inhuman acts, they make that individual or nation to blunder on, make a rod for his or its own back and in the end perish. The same is the case with America now. If Obama administration thinks that Afghan resistance can be smashed by more brute force, it is way off the beam. Obama knows damn all about the underlying geopolitical or tribal facts about Afghanistan. If there will be a surge in NATO troops and US forces and more places bombed out, all this will lead to fiercer Afghan resistance. It is the increased killing of civilians by NATO forces that have swelled the ranks of the Taliban. The writer is of the viewpoint that the US and its NATO allies are making some of the same mistakes that helped the Taliban's forerunners get the better of Soviet Union after a decade-long occupation that bled the Kremlin treasury, demoralised Moscow's military and contributed to the Soviet Union's collapse. Among the mistakes, relying too heavily on military force and inflicting too many civilian causalities stand out as prominent ones. Despite deploying up to 120,000 soldiers supported by 300,000 Afghan govt. forces, the Soviets failed to crush the insurgency by Afghan mujahedeen fighters. American strategy is going to compound violence and bloodshed. Indubitably, Afghans don't like the Taliban but Americans have not shown themselves a better option. According to the recent poll, 90 percent of Afghans oppose the Taliban but less than half view the US favourably. And the bitter reality is that the US cannot win the war without winning the hearts and minds of Afghan people. The same viewpoint has been echoed by Adm Mike Mullen, the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who has said that America will lose the war if it can't win Afghans trust. America is making a clown of itself in another aspect also. It is thinking that change of guard in Kabul will help to suppress Taliban insurgency. Soviet leaders had also thought in 1986 that a change in Afghan leadership would stem that insurgency. But they were wrong. Another reality is that US cannot win the war without the help of Pakistan. But it is alienating Pakistan by making drones attacks on its territory. Moreover, the drone attacks have failed to accomplish anything. They have not helped to prevent the spread of jihadist sympathies in tribal areas and slow down the stream of militants and materials into Afghanistan. Contrarily, this policy has boomeranged on the US. The US has failed to keep in mind that desperate attempts at controlling Afghanistan have failed miserably in the past also. The British Empire, which controlled India at the time, got defeated in Afghanistan in 1842 and again in 1878. Soviet leaders looked for a quick victory as they occupied Kabul in December 1979, only to find themselves engaged in a most bloody war that cost them 15,000 deaths and an ignominious defeat. By pressing a military solution in Afghanistan, Obama seems hell-bent on adding his country's name to those of Britain and Russia. Actually, America is acting in desperation and its acts are larded with contradictions. On the one hand, it regards military strategy as not the only effective solution in Afghanistan but on the other, it is boosting troops level there. On the one hand, it regards Pakistan's co-operation critical to Afghanistan strategy but on the other, it has increased drones attacks there. President Obama is facing some of the same problems that had compelled former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to order a withdrawal from Afghanistan. Gorbachev decided in 1985 to end the Soviet occupation after realising that Moscow couldn't win a military victory. The same reality has started to dawn on Obama who is having the feelings of touch-and-go nowadays. The writer is a foreign affairs analyst. E-mail: irfanasghar99@yahoo.com