This is not entirely surprising. Afghanistan has been corrupt, tribal, and unruleable for the entire course of known history. I'm not sure what the solution is, if there is any, but pouring in money certainly won't help.
The Taliban assassinated the one man who might have had the stature to deal with this situation before the invasion.
I think that the British press (including the conservative press) is just very anti-American and wants us to lose in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Considering that we just sent two thousand terrorists to "paradise," I don't think that the Taliban are going to be marching on Kabul any time soon.
As for leadership in Afghanistan, I don't think that Massoud would have been any more effective considering that he was a Tajik (strike against him right away).