Afghanistan: Top commander says Taliban has the upper hand.

Seeing this article and then comparing it with the other article serves as a reminder of what a staged bunch of baloney this is.

I just can't see any way to reconcile the two articles.

From the article in your link:

"the commander offered a preview of the strategic assessment he is to deliver to Washington later this month, saying the troop shifts are designed to better protect Afghan civilians from rising levels of Taliban violence and intimidation. The coming redeployments are the clearest manifestation to date of Gen. McChrystal's strategy for Afghanistan, which puts a premium on safeguarding the Afghan population rather than hunting down militants."

...vs the statements in the other article:

"The new strategy practiced by McChrystal involves large scale, long term ‘special operations’ to devastate and kill the local social networks and community leaders, which provide the support system for the armed resistance."

"The SOT specialize in establishing death squads and recruiting and training paramilitary forces to terrorize communities, neighborhoods and social movements opposing US client regimes."

"McChrystal was a special favorite of Rumsfeld and Cheney because he was in charge of the ‘direct action’ forces of the ‘Special Missions Units. ‘Direct Action’ operative are the death-squads and torturers and their only engagement with the local population is to terrorize, and not to propagandize."

"Obama’s appointment of McChrystal as head reflects a grave new military escalation of his Afghanistan war..." (bold emphasis mine in the above quotes)

Which one seems more believable?