That's correct. The reality of Western defeat and disaster makes the reality gap with the message "progress is being made" too great even for the complicit media to sustain indefinitely.  

The stalling tactic is that of the "Vietnamization" of Afghanistan.  That is, they shift the "responsibility' for fighting the insurgency to the fantasy of a viable US-acceptable government. This stalling tactic is just as absurdly unobtainable as a Western victory itself.

However, the optics for our quisling Government are much improved for re-framing defeat: "Heck,  we have tried everything to help these people but if the Afghanis themselves can't, or won't, come together in this noble cause, we can't do it for them"

It sounds much better than:
"We have lied and squandered the lives and treasure of Canada for an obscure and unobtainable victory. However, since our US masters have requested us as cannon fodder, we'll keep doing it at least until 2012. Vote for us anyway."